Washington County Career Center welding students are putting their skills to good use with the Military Tribute Banner Project in New Matamoras, as they help the program keep costs low by manufacturing the brackets for the banners themselves.

“The brackets for these banners are a little expensive. With the students here at the school, I thought it’d be a good, real-life project for them to give them some experience, and then it will help bring the cost down of our military banners.” said Sam Howard, one of the instructors for the welding program at Career Center. “The banners are $125, and if we had to buy the brackets, it was going to be up around $175, so it’s quite a savings for this program.”

Career Center administrators were right to recognize the value in showing students the difference they can make in their communities by using the very important skill they are being taught.

In addition, the community partners who donated material understand how important it is to support the project. Howard said Metal Tech Steel provided aluminum, West Virginia Electric donated aluminum collars, and Lowe’s supplied fittings and PVC pipes.

This is truly a community-wide effort to help honor local veterans. Families hoping to buy a banner to pay tribute to a loved one who served are surely grateful for the work these students have done to make it a little easier for them to do so.