Frequent users of the Hazelton Dog Park located at 855 Main St. in Dunkirk may have noticed a recent upgrade as they enter.

Recently, students enrolled in the conservation and construction programs at the Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES LoGuidice Educational Center put some of their recently acquired knowledge into practice by installing two new cement entrance pads.

The project was a collaborative effort and included donations from JMI Concrete; Steve St. George Enterprises and Add Lumber; and manpower provided by Mr. Matt Grace, Construction Technology teacher, and his seniors Joshua Hoffman of Westfield and Dominick Taber of Pine Valley; and Mr. Brandon Mead, Conservation teacher, and senior Hunter Stewart of Pine Valley.

“One of our concerns was the entrance pads and it was something we wanted to address,” said Denise Zentz, City of Dunkirk Animal Control Officer. “I reached out to Matt Grace personally, thinking about his concrete business, and he said it would be a great project for his seniors. Matt and Mr. Mead have been amazing … what great role models these students have to look up to. We couldn’t be happier with the results.”

The project took just over a week, with Conservation handling the excavating for the site and the Construction students creating the molds and forming the concrete pads. The dog park is open to the public, seven days a week, 24 hours a day.