ORONO – After a few hang-ups last fall, the crew of students from Penobscot Job Corps is back and the new Super Snack Shack at the Orono-Veazie Little League field is almost done.

“We’re getting close,” said Bob O’Neil, the facilities maintenance instructor at Job Corps and the one in charge of constructing the new building. He expects the shack to be finished by the time the Little League season opens May 1. They have another week of construction ahead, and a week to paint the building before it’s finished.

O’Neil said he was hesitant to start building last fall before everything was in place, especially financing for the project. Nearly 50 Job Corps students showed up for the groundbreaking Oct. 21-22 at Marden Park.

“I knew I had enough time in the spring, so I wasn’t worried,” he recalled, adding, “I actually have a better crew right now of kids that really want to learn.”

Construction really began about three weeks ago, when O’Neil’s students started building the platform and walls in their shop. They didn’t move outside to the site until this past week, so changes in the weather haven’t interfered much. “We just had to struggle through the mud and muck to get the base set,” he said.

Students working on the snack shack have learned a lot, and not just construction skills. “My job is teaching kids about work ethics, more than skills,” said O’Neil, explaining that when they are placed on a job site, they’ll be taught how to do work a certain way. He spends more effort getting students to “show up on time, dress appropriately and be aware of [their] surroundings.” But it’s the skills he teaches that his students are more conscious of learning.

“I’ve learned a lot, not only from this project,” said Tiffany Briggs, a Job Corps student from Maine and Massachusetts. “I didn’t know anything about construction before [I came to the] Job Corps.” She now has Level I certification in welding, is working toward Level II and is taking a class at Eastern Maine Community College learning the basics of operating heavy machinery.

Isaiah Benton, a student from New Haven, Conn., who’s been with the Job Corps for nine months, said he’s learned more framing and gotten better at nailing and putting things together on this project. Benton is trying to get his certification so he can start a carpentry business.

“[The experience at the Job Corps] has meant a lot. If I learn everything I need to know, it could help me in the future,” he said.

The new Super Snack Shack will be 16 feet by 20 feet, a two-story building that will offer equipment storage and a refreshment stand on the first floor with an announcers’ booth above. With the new facility, volunteers will have space for more than one person in the concession booth and parents will be able to hear their kids’ names announced when they step up to the plate, according to Mike Jellison, a longtime Orono-Veazie Little League volunteer and instructor at Penobscot Job Corps.

The structure also will allow the Orono-Veazie Little League to attract playoff games, according to Norm Poirier, director of Parks and Recreation for Orono.

“I think it’s cool for the kids,” said Briggs.