Carrollton Area Career Center's Welding Class Creates 9-11 Memorial
The 9-11 Memorial started three years ago between the Carrollton Area Career Center Welding class, the Carroll County Museum, and the Carrollton Hero’s Park Board. The Welding students came up with the idea for the memorial for the park and also that could be used as part of a SkillsUSA competition. After much discussion with the instructor, Jay Shirley, the class worked hard on drawing up a design and putting a plan together to construct the memorial.
The Welding students presented the idea to the Carroll County Museum board and Hero’s Park Board. After hearing the students ideas and seeing some drawings they approved us to start. The students went to work on cutting out the letters and starting to assemble the arches. Unfortunately, not long after the students started work on the memorial they were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As soon as school resumed in the beginning of the 2020-21 school year the students started working again and making great progress. By the end of the year they had it completed with the exception of painting which was done over the summer. The memorial actually had three different classes that worked on it from the beginning until installation. Many students from all our schools worked hard to make it happen.
The memorial was completed in the fall of 2021 with the assistance of many community members. Ag Power donated the hardware, Jason Martin from Top Notch Collision donated automotive paint and painting supplies, Kenny Rodenberg donated additional painting supplies and did the actual painting, Orscheln’s donated a pallet of concrete for the installation. In addition, George Eiserer, Ann Eiserer, and Dalton Shields donated the time and equipment to help install it.
The actual design of the memorial came after a lot of discussion and thought. The two American flags represent all the civilian heroes who were wounded or died in the attack, the thin blue line flag is for all the law enforcement officers and the sacrifices they made, the thin red line flag is for the firefighters and medical personnel who had to conquer their fears in order to save lives. The battlefield cross is for all the military personnel who sacrificed their lives for our freedom.
Santa Fe Students were also instrumental in creating the 9-11 Memorial. Lane Borchers (2021 graduate), Blake Dankenbring and Owen Hostetter assisted during welding class throughout the 2020-2021 school year. Blake and Owen also helped install the memorial on September 1, 2021.
