Connellsville CTC creates birdhouses for downtown beautification project
Downtown Connellsville will look a little brighter and a little more colorful this spring when the work of students from the Connellsville Area Career and Technical Center is displayed on city sidewalks.
Students from three shops at the school spent February constructing seven metal birdhouses that will be placed in planters throughout the downtown area as part of a beautification project through a partnership with the Fayette County Cultural Trust.
Shawna Little, workforce development coordinator at the CTC who is supervising the project, said it came together through a conversation with Cultural Trust officials earlier this year regarding the possibility of welding students at the school replicating two existing birdhouses that currently occupy downtown planters.
“We’re all about collaborating with the community. It’s a win-win,” said Little.
“It’s a win for the community because it benefits from the beautification efforts, and it’s a win for the CTC because our students are getting that hands-on learning, which is what the CTC is all about.”
The CTC was able to incorporate three separate shops into the production of the birdhouses, which were created using the Cultural Trust’s initial two birdhouses as templates. The students, however, were given creative control.
“They wanted us to mimic those designs, with butterflies and (flower) petals, but our directive was to be creative,” said Little.
The birdhouses were designed in Pat Mullaney’s computer networking class, were constructed in Nordic Shreve’s welding class, and will be painted with bright colors in Karl Butchko’s automotive collision repair class.
Between the three shops, 35 to 40 students had the opportunity to have a hand in the project.
“It’s a testament to what the CTC has to offer. I love that we have multiple shops working on a project for the community,” Little said. “We have to give the teachers credit. They take projects on and incorporate them into their curriculum because they know they benefit the community.”
Given a target completion date of the end of March so the birdhouses could be ready for a spring roll out by the Cultural Trust, the students have worked diligently to complete the project ahead of schedule, said Little.
The Cultural Trust is covering the cost of materials for the endeavor.
Little said the CTC often partners with local organizations like the Cultural Trusts for community projects and aims to maintain ongoing relationships with those groups to benefit the community and ensure students can apply their developing skills.
“We have a lot of students doing fantastic work who need to be recognized,” she said. “It’s going to be a really neat thing when they see their work out there in the community.”