A new ticket booth and entrance are being constructed outside the football stadium at West Salem High School. The project, which is expected to be mostly finished by Homecoming next week, is going up under the guidance of technology education instructor Dave Arndt.

When the structure is complete it will be painted to match the stadium.

“We’ll have a covered area to take tickets and sell T-shirts and a storage area to keep things dry,” Arndt said.

Arndt’s construction remodeling class is doing the physical labor. The project, designed by 2008 graduate Patrick Keller, is being coordinated by senior Alan Nuttelman.

“They (the students) enjoy it and there’s a certain amount of pride involved. I think they’ll be able to point to this years later and say “I was part of the team that made that entrance,’” Arndt said.

He added that, there’s been a change for the better in how construction projects in his classroom are organized.

“We used to build things for practice, then tear them down and throw away the materials. But now the district is letting us do projects that are permanent. This way we don’t waste the taxpayer’s money,” he said. “We save the district all the labor costs, while the students get paid by their grades.”

The La Crosse Area Builder’s Association often donates tools and equipment for school construction projects and Arndt also mentioned that Village Lumber provides good deals on materials.

The next major project for Arndt’s students will be an addition to the school forest lodge. That project is slated to be completed this school year.