PORT ANGELES — Woodworking students at Port Angeles High School are preparing to unveil the new “Welcome to Port Angeles” sign they created for the city during a ceremony and ribbon-cutting today.
The new sign — featuring the Olympic Mountains, western hemlocks, water and the Klallam language — replaces the sign at the corner of Lincoln Street and Lauridsen Boulevard.
“The original idea was we wanted to make something that represented Port Angeles really well,” said PAHS junior Glenn Deckart. “We have everything you would remember from Port Angeles to welcome you into town.”
Deckart and his classmates Mariah Fortman and Sawyer Larsen, who helped make the sign, will be joined by school and city officials when the sign is officially unveiled at 4:30 p.m. today.
The three students are each in the woodworking class at PAHS, one of about 60 career and technical education classes offered at the school.
Deckart, Fortman and Larsen have worked since September on the sign, in consultation with the city.
The project helped them earn second place in the Skills USA regional competition this school year and took them to the state competition.
“It’s been a good opportunity for these guys,” said their teacher Tim Branham.
He said the project taught the students more than just woodworking skills. They learned people skills and how to work as a team, he said.
“That’s probably some of the hardest things they have learned is how to work together as a team when crunch time comes,” he said.
Corey Delikat, director of Parks and Recreation for the city, said he and other officials worked closely with the students.
Delikat said it’s rare for students to take on a project such as this and that they learned how complicated putting up a new sign can be.
Delikat estimated he met with the students about a dozen times throughout the past few months, monitoring their progress.
“If I wouldn’t have done this project, I wouldn’t have learned a lot of the things that I learned about myself and how real things go,” Fortman said.
“You can’t just say you want to go do something and it happens just like that. There’s steps to get to where you want to be.”
The students secured donations from local businesses to make the project possible.
They said Hartnagel Building Supply donated close to $1,000 worth of lumber and paint for the project and Jackson Signs provided technical and professional support.
Fortman worked as the group’s task manager, who kept the project on schedule and getting in touch with officials.
Larsen served as the designer and put people’s ideas to paper.
Most of the mountain range in the sign is actually modeled after the Olympic Mountains.
“I was standing outside the Vern Burton and took a photo of the mountains,” Larsen said. “That just a tracing of it.”
Deckert then used that design to create a tool path so he could cut the sign in the shape of the Olympic Mountains.
He said the sign was too big for the school’s CNC router could handle in one cut, so he cut each half separately.
“I learned a lot about that machine,” Deckert said.
The students each said they are thankful to all the others who helped in the project in any way.
“It wasn’t just us three, it took the cooperation of not only our class but every class that uses this shop,” Larsen said. “This was occupied for cumulatively for like a whole month.”
________
Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
Port Angeles High School juniors Mariah Fortman and Glenn Deckart fasten the “Welcome to Port Angeles” sign they made to posts on Thursday. (Jesse Major/Peninsula Daily News)
Port Angeles High School junior Glenn Deckart fastens the “Welcome to Port Angeles” sign he and others students made to posts on Thursday. (Jesse Major/Peninsula Daily News)
