WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, welding students at two local colleges are leaving behind more than class projects.<\/p>\n
Students at Palm Beach State College<\/a> and Indian River State College<\/a> spent hundreds of hours cutting, grinding, and welding steel into large-scale sculptures honoring the nation’s history\u2014while gaining the hands-on skills they’ll soon take into the workforce.<\/p>\n At Palm Beach State College, 11 welding students created “Forged Freedom,” a 7-foot, 7-inch steel eagle with a six-foot wingspan. The sculpture took more than 350 hours to complete and earned the People’s Choice Award <\/a>in the Florida Department of Education’s statewide America 250 Welding & Fabrication Challenge.<\/p>\n At Indian River State College, students built a towering tribute to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.<\/a> Standing more than 12 feet tall and weighing roughly 1,500 pounds, the sculpture features a six-foot sentinel crafted from repurposed tools, gears, chains and other industrial materials. The project earned the competition’s Technical Excellence Award<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the finished sculptures are impressive, students say the experience was about much more than the final product.<\/p>\n “We all put tons of effort behind this to make it look nice,” said Palm Beach State welding student Connor Sabatello. “Everybody grinded at least five feathers each. Everybody ground a piece of metal on this to make it polished.”<\/p>\n At Indian River State College, student Deneka Findlay said the project brought the entire class together.<\/p>\n “Just to see everybody come in collectively, working together, staying those long nights, and putting in those hours, it was just really something to be proud of,” Findlay said.<\/p>\n For Marine Corps veteran Marvin Martin, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier carried a personal meaning.<\/p>\n “I’m a Marine Corps veteran, so it kind of hits home a little more,” Martin said. “I’ve been to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington probably two or three times, so seeing how it turned out, I think it’s a great representation of what it is.”<\/p>\n Indian River instructor Walt Posten said the sculpture honors generations of sacrifice.<\/p>\n “That tomb represents all those soldiers that didn’t come home,” Posten said.<\/p>\n The projects also highlight the growing need for skilled trades workers.<\/p>\n “Without welding, the world stops, really,” Posten said.<\/p>\n According to Troy Shearer, associate dean of Applied Technologies at Indian River State College, the industry is preparing for a wave of retirements, creating strong demand for the next generation of welders.<\/p>\n “There’s a shortfall coming where the folks who have been holding up the trades for years now are getting ready to retire,” Shearer said.<\/p>\n Palm Beach State welding instructor Todd Rowley said that’s exactly what the programs are preparing students to do.<\/p>\n “At the end of the program, they’re competent welders and they can go out and get a job,” Rowley said.<\/p>\n For Sabatello, however, he hopes people take away something beyond the craftsmanship.<\/p>\n “What do I hope they get from this?” he said. “Pride. Pride in their country and their fellow man standing next to them.”<\/p>\n Both sculptures were created as part of the Florida Department of Education’s America 250 Welding & Fabrication Challenge celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. 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