It’s made with weathering steel, it’s larger than your average bear, and his unofficial nickname is “Bud”.
Unofficial?
“Yes, unofficial,” said Brooke County Schools Superintendent Dr. Jeff Crook. “I don’t know if everyone else will call him ‘Bud,’ but Bud Billiard is a legend around here. So, it’s ‘Bud’ to me.”
The late Billiard was Brooke High’s head football coach for 23 years (1979-2001), and he led 15 teams to post-season play with seven of them advancing to state championship games and three coming away with state titles. Two of his teams (1987, 1989) finished undefeated and were ranked among the national Top 25.
“People still talk about Bud and those years he was here because of the state championships and all of the winning. And Bud’s players loved him,” Crook said. “When I first saw our new bruin, it made me think of Bud because of the great job our Career Tech student did with it. Our students were dedicated and they did an incredible job.”
The sculpted, 800-pound bear now rests near the front entrance to Brooke High School after weeks of fabrication by students learning in a few different CTE classes at the high school, according to engineering/CTE educator Tom Bane.
“It was built over the past four months,” explained Bane, who’s now in his ninth year at Brooke High. “There were the welding students with (retiring instructor) Larry Jones, and we had construction and engineering students involved, too. I’d say a total of 15 students were involved with creating the Bruin.
“It was a team effort, and it was a part of Project Lead the Way,” he said. “That program brings a lot of students together because it’s hands-on with our students learning by doing it themselves.”
Sure, it begins with the teachers teaching, but when it came to the labor, it was the students who stepped up.
“That’s one of the best parts about my work with the students. They figure things out on their own, and then they come to me to make sure they have everything correct,” Bane explained. “On the Bruin project, they had a lot of questions and obstacles, but they worked hard to figure them out, so that tells me they are skilled at critical thinking.
“It’s very much a work environment, too. When they came in to continue their work on the bruin, they were all business because it meant a lot to them,” he said. “That also tells me know they know the difference already between the atmosphere during a class and at a workplace, and that’s great to see.”
Hear Them Roar!
Most residents of the Northern Panhandle have heard of – maybe even experienced – “shop” class, but the classes Brooke High School now offers are “shop” classes on steroids.
And that’s because of the cutting-edge technology now utilized.
“We have a lot of different industry-standard equipment,” Bane said. “We have laser engravers, we have a plasma cutter, and we have CNC machines in our facility. And our students used the latest and greatest equipment when they created our new bear.
“A couple of my students cut the pieces for the bear on the plasma cutter, and that’s equipment most young people don’t get to use, so our students are lucky,” he said. “There’s been an investment made in our Career Tech programs, and they’re not just for our students who are going into the trades.”
The plasma cutter was used on the bruin to fabricate the weathering steel into several pieces that were then welded together to form the bear’s permanent shape.
“And the CNC plasma cutter uses code to cut different shapes, and the students did the work with the equipment,” Bane said. “So, a couple of students cut the pieces, and then the welding students welded those pieces all together into a three-dimensional bear that is absolutely fantastic. It was a team effort, too.
“It weighs around 800 pounds, and it’s bigger than life size,” he explained. “The reaction to the bruin has been terrific, and that’s why the students will make two more for other locations. It’s really amazing to watch these kids learn something and then go hands-on so quickly. It’s impressive.”
Options & Opportunity
The economy in the Upper Ohio Valley has evolved away from manufacturing and toward service, but the need for construction has remained strong despite a drastic drop in population over the last 30 years.
That’s why Crook’s “Bud the Bruin” project serves as a terrific example of how educators at Brooke High have adapted their lesson plans for today’s students.
“Kids have a lot of options put in front of them these days, so our job is to prepare them for what they are choosing during their years at Brooke High School. And that includes, of course, our CTE classes and the decisions our students make after their graduation,” the superintendent explained. “As educators, we’ve learned a lot about that next step, whether it involves college or the trades or something else that a student is interested in.
“With our kids, it starts with their first day as a student in our schools because that’s when their individual education plan begins,” Crook said. “It’s our jobs to give our students the most opportunities possible, and that’s why this steel bear means so much to us. It brought students from different areas together just like what happens in the workplace.”
Brooke County Schools has partnered with a number of local trade organizations, and the CTE programs have collaborated with West Virginia Northern Community College for welding instruction. For the past several years, students have been able to earn their high school diplomas and their associate’s degrees simultaneously.
“That’s one of the reasons why I have kids from all walks of life that come through my doors, and some kids have no idea what they want in life. At the same time, I have had kids come to me and tell me they want to be a civil engineer. So, you never know,” Bane said. “Some of our students go straight into the workforce with the trades, some have gone to the military, and some have gone to college.
“My favorite part of it all is when our kids come back to school and thank us for the education, we gave them and tell us that they enjoyed it because of everything they learned while they were with us,” the educator added. “Every teacher enjoys hearing those things, and we enjoy seeing them go off and be successful.”
