Plaques created for upcoming Relay
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
RELAY FOR LIFE GIFT — Building trades students at the Presque Isle Regional Career and Technical Center recently made more than 270 wooden plaques in the shape of ribbons that will be presented to cancer survivors at this year’s Aroostook County Relay for Life event. Pictured with the ribbons are, from left, front row: Tyler Vrieze and Lewis Amero. Back row: Tyler Brooks, Joshua Morrow, Dustin Sandbeck, Nathan Dewitt and Ansumana Morrow. Absent when the photo was taken were Cole Farley, Jacob Poitraw and Joshua Fraser.
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Cancer survivors who attend Aroostook County’s Relay for Life event May 31 in Caribou will receive wooden plaques in the shape of ribbons that were made by students in the Presque Isle Regional Career and Technical Center’s building trades program.
“The survivor committee gives a gift to our survivors every year to commemorate their being with us at Relay for Life, and I had seen one of these ribbons done by somebody else and wanted to try to figure out a way to get some of them made for our survivors,” said Julie Tucci, Aroostook County Relay for Life co-chair. “I got in touch with Spencer Bragan at the PIRCTC and he graciously offered to make this a class project.”
Bragan, building trades instructor, was eager to get his students involved.
“I knew that project-wise [for the kids] it was something we could do, but the cause for it is something even better. You’d be hard-pressed to find somebody that doesn’t have a family member that’s been affected by cancer some how,” said Bragan, whose own father has successfully fought esophageal cancer.
The students were asked to make 250 ribbon plaques, but ended up making a little over 270 just to have some extras available.
“We made a lot of ribbons,” said Tyler Vrieze, a senior at Presque Isle High School. “We had big sheets of plywood that we cut down and we used one ribbon as a pattern and would trace around it and cut them out with a band saw.
“As we got going, we were spitting them out pretty fast. Then we used a big drill bit for the center part of the ribbon, sanded them down and then stained them. Everybody did a little bit of everything, but I did a lot of cutting,” he said. “I think they look really good, and I hope the people who receive them will be pleased.”
Working on the project was particularly meaningful for Vrieze as his grandfather is battling cancer.
“My grandfather, who lives in Houlton, has cancer, and my great-grandfather passed away from lung cancer five or six years ago,” said Vrieze, “so this project meant a little more to me than maybe some of my classmates because I could see where other people are coming from with it, and I have a respect for that.”
PIHS junior Lewis Amero also has a personal connection to the cause.
“My grandfather had colon cancer and he’s been in remission for 10 years. Because of my connection to cancer, I wanted to make the ribbons the best I possibly could. I didn’t want to mess up because I want people to feel proud of what we made,” said Amero. “They turned out better than I expected. I’m very happy I got to be a part of this.”
Bragan agreed the ribbon plaques turned out well.
“Without having a machine to cut 271 of them exactly, these are all individually done so there’s going to be a little variance,” he said, noting the students were graded on their workmanship and participation. “Overall the students did a great job and I hope they feel good about what they did.”
The students spent about three weeks making the plaques, which have since had the word “Hope” written on the front of them with a black marker.
“We’re going to put a sticker noting where they came from on the back,” said Tucci, “and we’re going to take every survivor’s picture and put the picture on the back, as well.
“If you are a cancer survivor, we invite you to attend Relay For Life,” she said. “We love celebrating more birthdays!”
The plywood was donated by Columbia Forest Products.
Relay For Life of Aroostook will begin Friday, May 31 at 6 p.m. at Caribou High School.
