OLYPHANT, Pa. — The sound of hammers pounding echoed through the Queen City Train Station in Olyphant on Tuesday. Students from the Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County are doing some repairs to the decking of the station.
"The Olyphant borough reached out to us a few weeks back and asked us if we could help them with a community service project replacing the decking on their historic train station," said carpentry instructor Shane Malicky.
The students are getting hands-on experience outside of the classroom that allows them to hone their carpentry skills.
"We have to demo all the boards, and then we have to make sure everything's level, and then we put this Trex decking on and make sure everything's level and fixed right," said student Maiya Rizner.
The skills that the students are learning are good to translate into their adult life, even if they're not going to pursue carpentry as a career.
"Hiring someone, obviously, will cost a lot. When you know how to do the skill set yourself, then you would know how to do most of the stuff, most of the work for yourself, and save a lot of money. That's when my dad told me, 'Learn everything you can,'" said student Noah Retamar.
The students say they're thankful for the experience, and giving back to the community makes working on this project extra special.
"I love (that) people think, 'Wow, high school students did that.' Like anyone could do that," Rizner said.
"They get to have something that's permanent. It's not something they're going to take down in our shop. This is something that's going to be here for the long run," Malicky said.
The students are expected to wrap up this project by the end of the week.
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