Projects turn into classroom lessons

Bald Eagle Area construction manager aims to educate

Ed Mahon

BOGGS TOWNSHIP — Early in his lesson to a high school business class, Rick Vilello offered a joke and an explanation about his hat.

Vilello

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“I’m one of the few people you’ll see walking the halls in a hard hat,” said Vilello. “It’s not that the ceiling’s going to fall. I’m just wearing it because it’s the easiest place to put it.”

In March, Bald Eagle Area High School began a $26 million construction project that isn’t expected to be finished until July 2011.

Vilello is the construction manager for the project, representing the district’s interests, so he spends time overseeing the work at different spots of the site.

“I’m responsible to make sure that the school district gets everything that’s in these documents,” Vilello told students in Phil Carles’ business class, then showed them the 267 pages of contracts.

He then explained the five main types of contracts: electrical; plumbing; roofing; site, which deals with preparing the ground; and general, which address the ceiling tiles, carpets, windows and other indoor projects.

The visit wasn’t Vilello’s first trip into the classroom. He’s given hard hats to kindergarteners and first-graders at Wingate Elementary School and taken them on a tour of the site. Then they went back to the classroom, recycled materials to build their own construction vehicles, made blueprints for the renovation and shared books about construction.

“The kids just had a blast,” said Wingate Principal James Orichosky. “It was phenomenal.”

Vilello plans to talk about the project in art and geometry classrooms, too. His goal? To try to ensure the construction at Wingate Elementary and Bald Eagle Area High is seen as more than just an inconvenience that leads to less parking and more dirt and noise. He wants it to be a learning experience.

“You have to take every opportunity to work that in, or it can be a pain,” Vilello said.

Ed Mahon can be reached at 231-4619.