Veterans honored with plaques designed by students

Each year, area veterans attending the Meyersdale Area School District Veterans Day program are presented with a special gift in appreciation for their service. This year’s gifts were especially meaningful, they were designed, constructed and finished right here at MASD by a group of our students!

Patti Shaulis, who helps organize the Veterans Program, said presenting veterans with gifts has become an important tradition and each year a great deal of thought goes into the selection of the gift. Knowing the skills and talents being honed in the school’s Tech Ed program, she approached instructor Doug Horne and asked if his students would be interested in making something to honor the veterans.

“The students and I worked through a couple of ideas and came up with our flag project. This project was a team effort by our students. This project was special because it was from the heart, the students took the time to make sure that they were done correctly with the respect our veterans and the American flag deserves. These flags were very labor intensive with all the fine paint work as well as the cutting, sanding and burning that took place. Each flag was on our CNC router for about 15 minutes of setup and run time,” Horne explained. “We started this project the second week of school and literally finished it the afternoon before Veterans Day. I think the students took great pride in the completion and quality of our flags knowing they were going to people that sacrificed so much for our country and community.”

In an additional tie to the community, the flags were made using CNC router bits that were purchased by the Wind Power Committee. The Wind Power Committee chooses grant projects to fund in the school and community.

The students involved in this project included: Stephen Friend, Brooke Coddington, Easton Arnold, Lylah Styer, Cheylee Troutman, Brailynn Shaffer, Trevor Emerick, Dayton Clark, Ethan Smith, Carson Sutton, Stylz Friend, Cooper Porter, Chris Engle, Trey Bolyard, Aidan Mosholder, Abi Beal, Karleigh Beal, Nolan Lowery, Zack Nave and Jase Anderson.

“The flags turned out beautifully and I know the veterans appreciated the time and effort that went into making each of the 82 wooden flags,” Shaulis added. “I think what made these truly special was the fact that our students made them to honor the men and women who serve and it shows our students the importance of their sacrifice.”