When pulling up to the International 500 Snowmobile Race Track to watch the 54th riveting ice race on high-powered performance skis, expect to see a brand new safety shack up on its hilltop.
"Let's give a big I-500 shout out to the students and staff of Sault Area High School & Career Center," I-500 Chairperson Ric Federau said of the school's Construction Technology class. "Recently, its students came together to build a safety shack. Over the past few decades, the old building has started to deteriorate."
The I-500 safety shack was donated by the career center and dropped off by Construction Technology Instructor Trevor Paulus under shining track lights last night.
The shack is used to check-in race teams, as well as for anyone entering and leaving the pit area during race week. It is occupied by local authorities and the I-500 team.
"If an emergency were to happen, people know they can go to that building," Federau said, hoping for a safe and invigorating race in six days.
The new shack is an 8 by 12-foot space. It measures 120 cubic feet inside and stands eleven feet tall with 4-foot overhangs.
"The shack is made out of plywood," Paulus said, helping his 21 students finish all the wiring and siding Friday morning. "It has a wood frame structure around the outside, metal exterior, and metal roof. It is red with a pressure-treated deck in the front."
Construction Technology senior student Madisen Claxton headed the project as an integral component of its management team.
"We started working on it nearly three weeks ago," she said, crediting all of her classmates for their hard work. "It's really cool to be a part of the I-500."
The second and third hour career center class learned a lot over the past month or so.
"In the beginning, it was really interesting," Claxton explained. "We did it all on an online program. Then, we had to figure out the measurements as we went."
They worked out the bugs as they went along, which kept hands-on, active students like Claxton intrigued.
"You have to jump in and figure out as you go," Claxton said. "You learn better technique of doing things as you go."
On top of school, Claxton holds two part-time jobs including one working in the office of Dutch Huis Properties in Sault Ste. Marie. Like many of her fellow Construction Technology classmates, her eyes are set on a future career in the field.
"Im going to go to Ferris State University to study construction management," she said.
Although spectators have already spoken highly of the shack's bright red siding and front deck, perhaps Paulus said it best when quoting David Allan Coe: "It is not the beauty of a building you should look at; its the construction of the foundation that will stand the test of time."
Click here to view the updated I-500 event schedule.
