CARLISLE, Pa. (WHTM) — More than two dozen high school students spent Veterans Day building a new pavilion at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center. 

The pavilion will serve as an events space, an education center, even a picnic area in the summer.

“I like to get my kids out where they’re actually on a job site, make it as close to real employment as possible,” carpentry instructor Jody Snider said.

It’s a meaningful job for Snider and his students.

“It’s an educational center, so it fits in perfectly with us being a school, and what better day than Veterans Day to be out here doing this?” Snider said.

The project is a partnership with the Army Heritage Center Foundation. Labor was donated by students at Cumberland-Perry Area Vocational Technical School and design time by architects at R.S. Mowery.

“We’ve built most of the buildings here. It was kind of a natural fit for us to help with the upcoming pavilion,” said Steven Knaub, an architect and director of design at R.S. Mowery.

“This Quonset hut fits into the Vietnam era, fits into the military theme,” Snider said.

For a center that devotes itself to teaching others about military history, the new structure will help accomplish that mission.

“They’ve been putting up fest tents for the last couple, years but during the winter they had to take them down,” said Mike Perry, executive director of the Army Heritage Center Foundation. “If it got stormy, they had to take them down also, so we were looking for something more permanent.”

It’s something permanent the students can be proud of.

“To be out and show off our work is very rewarding,” high school junior Brandon Derr said.

For years to come, visitors of the Heritage Center will have a place to learn, to rest and a place to keep honoring those who served. The crew hopes to have the pavilion finished by Thanksgiving.