Some students with the Greater Essex County District School Board are getting a unique opportunity to apply their construction skills and learn about history as part of a project in Lakeshore.
Students with the Enhanced Construction Program are working on a deck restoration project at the John Freeman Walls Historic Site and Underground Railroad Museum at 859 Puce Rd.
The deck and a gazebo are attached to the historic Simcoe Building, built in 1798.
The site even hosted American civil rights activist Rosa Parks on a number of occasions.
Gosselin says replacing the cedar deck at the site is a big project.
"It's probably about 700-to-800 square feet of deck with a gazebo in one spot," he says. "We're going to be building ramps to make it accessible. A set of stairs all the way across; we're rebuilding those. It's quite the project; we'll probably be out here several times."
Grade 11 student Xavier Drew says he really wanted to take the enhanced construction program because he hopes to have a career in carpentry.
"It's just a fun experience, honestly. I get to work with a team; we build stuff. Right now we're taking apart a deck. It feels great; we're helping the community, we're learning, and we're building history on history here," he says.
Grade 11 student Elijah Matthew got into the program because he likes working with his hands and says it's fun working on the restoration project.
"I just really enjoy it overall because it has so much history behind it and it has my friends with it, and I'm doing it with them," he says.
Students with the GECDSB's Enhanced Construction Program normally train at the Carpenters Union, Local 494 on Fasan Drive, just off Walker Road in Oldcastle.
The Underground Railroad was a series of routes that were established to hide and transport former slaves escaping the Southern United States, with many settling in the Northern United States, Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick.