Many high school students in the United States get hands-on training in construction skills by building real houses. One such program was created for construction and design students in Waterloo, Iowa. The students have already received training in many areas of house construction. They have put up walls, built windows and doors and completed some wiring. The project is run by the Waterloo Career Center. The center offers students different programs designed to prepare them for careers in technical fields. Students from the Waterloo Community School District recently took part in construction training that centered on the skill of masonry: work done with stone, brick or concrete materials. The students spent five days at their school learning from experienced workers from the Masonry Institute of Iowa, a professional organization. The workers taught the students how to mix mortar and build walls with bricks and blocks. One of the goals for the students was to build a pier: a solid support built to hold vertical pressure. It usually goes out from land and into water.