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Imagine Dragon

Warren Area High School’s student council proposes metal sculpture as class gift

With permission from Namfon Suktawee (namfon.suktawee@gmail.com) www.Scrap-Metal-Art-Thailand.com

Some Dragons are working on importing a dragon.

The Warren Area High School student council is working on a class gift — a nine-foot tall, 1,300-pound metal dragon.

With the renovations of the school complete, the council wanted to put a dragon outside, according to Advisor Tiffany Mandeville. “They have seen mascots at other schools around the region and, now that the school is finished, they want to have a dragon installed here.”

“We decided on recycled materials so that our statue will be unique,” Council President Stephen Ashbaugh said.

He started shopping.

With permission from Namfon Suktawee (namfon.suktawee@gmail.com) www.Scrap-Metal-Art-Thailand.com

“After student council got the idea to look into purchasing a statue to represent our school, I began researching online,” Ashbaugh said. “The name of Scrap Metal Art Thailand came up with pictures, including some of the dragon statues that were exactly what we were looking for.”

Commissioning more than half-a-ton of a metal dragon from about as far around the globe as could be is going be costly.

Ashbaugh spoke with the artist — Namfon Suktawee at https://www.scrap-metal-art-thailand.com/ — and her preferred shipping company. The final estimate was $11,000 to $12,000.

https://www.scrap-metal-art-thailand.com/

“The students also looked into artists in the United States since this obviously is a huge statue and the cost of shipping is expensive,” Mandeville said. “Even with the shipping fees, the cost of someone more local was about three times the price for the type of statue that they were looking for.”

That is a manageable number for the council. But, it would represent too much of a drain to their account.

“Student council would be able to fund the majority of this project, but it would deplete the funds we have saved over the last several years and we would no longer be able to put on the activities that we do around the school,” Ashbaugh said. “That is why we are reaching out to the community for donations.”

A letter requesting donations was distributed to local businesses. Donations may be made payable to WAHS Student Council, and sent to Warren Area High School, 345 E. Fifth Ave., Warren, PA, 16365. Sponsors at levels starting at $250 will have their names on a plaque with the statue, according to the letter.

“Once funding is secured, we will send Namfon a deposit and she will begin construction, which will take six to eight weeks,” he said. Shipping will add at least a couple more weeks.

She has made dragons before and the one for Warren Area High School would be very similar. “Namfon uses recycled steel car parts,” Ashbaugh said. “Our statue will have an 80 to 90 percent likeness” but be slightly different from previous dragons “due to the fact that each statue is made out of different parts.”

The statue will receive multiple coats of acrylic lacquer to protect it from the elements.

Mandeville said council hopes to be able to have the dragon installed before graduation.

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