BOCES Students Build Gazebo for United Helpers Independent Senior Living

CANTON – Sitting in the dining room at United Helpers Independent Senior Living, or looking out the windows of an apartment on the back side of the building, one could be treated to amazing views that could include fall foliage, flowers in a raised garden bed, or even deer wandering through the property. However for Community Housing Manager Jennifer Dean, something had always been missing…

That is until now. Thanks to a group of students from the Building & Trades program at St. Lawrence-Lewis’ BOCES Seaway Tech campus in Norwood, program members at United Helpers Independent Senior Living now have a gazebo to call their own.

The gazebo, according to Mrs. Dean, not only give program members a place to sit and enjoy the outdoors, but overall enhances the beauty of the site. 

Jen Dean and Tim Parsons celebrate the ribbon cutting.

“One of the things I’ve wanted to work on since becoming manager was enhancing the landscaping outside, so the beauty of our property outdoors matches the beauty of the building itself,” she said.

United Helpers Rehabilitation and Senior Care Vice President of Operations Timothy Parsons said the gazebo was built by students, with United Helpers covering the cost of materials.

“With the amount of labor that goes into building something like this, a gazebo is something that would have been difficult for us to fit into the budget, but thanks to these students and their teachers, the program members now have something to enjoy for many years to come,” he said.

Building and Trades Instructor Lawrence Ashley said eight students from Canton, Massena, Colton-Pierrepont, and Parishville-Hopkinton spent two hours a day working on the project for nearly a month with more than 200 total hours of work going into the final product.

“This was a unique project for us because it is an octagon,” he said. “That means these weren’t your typical 90 degree cuts. Instead we had to do 22.5 degree cuts, which had to be incredibly precise in order for everything to fit together and make 360 degrees.”

Mr. Ashley said the students built the entire gazebo and then cut it in half to transport it to United Helpers for final assembly.

“They showed a degree of professionally beyond what would be expected of students by pre-drilling the wood, so the floor, hand railings, and ceiling would not crack or split,” he said. “The students took great pride in knowing this project would benefit residents of United Helpers.”

Students from the Building and Trades Program at St. Lawrence-Lewis’ Seaway Tech Career Center recently dropped off the gazebo they had built for program members at United Helpers Independent Senior Living. Given the size of the structure, it had to be cut in half and reassembled after being dropped into place. From left, Building and Trades Instructor Lawrence Ashley, Wyatt Colton, of Colton-Pierrepont Central School, Josh Hall, of Massena Central School, Building and Trades Teaching Assistant Michael Rodenhouse, and United Helpers Community Housing Manager Jennifer Dean.