MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan — After two years of work and fundraising, M.C. Perry High School on Monday unveiled a new outdoor courtyard and pavilion for students.

“This is our quad, our space,” said Rei Enriquez, an 11th-grader who helped coordinate the work.

The $9,400 project was completed with funds raised by students and with help from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4, who built the covered pavilion. It was later dedicated in honor of deceased staff member Chuck Hart.

The area now has grassy areas, trees, fresh flowers — including 250 tulips — benches, and several large murals painted by students and the school’s art teacher.

“It’s an area they can have pride in and hang out in,” said principal Alice Berard. “It’s really their courtyard. It’s all student-driven.”

Three years ago, the graduating class wrote to the facilities department asking Seabees to build a pavilion as a graduation present. Later classes raised the funds. Without the Seabees, the project would have cost $36,000, officials said.

The students from the Kinetic Inspiration Club spearheaded the project.

“We felt it needed to have a kind of homey environment, for kids to feel good about it,” said Mark Lange, a language arts teacher who heads the club.

Eventually, they hope to have more murals and a stage for concerts.

Enriquez, a KI Club member, said as a military child, students don’t always have a chance to leave behind something special. She’s attended seven different schools, she said.

With the courtyard, she said, she hopes to leave a lasting memento: “So people will remember you.”