Correction: In a previous version of this article, the Courier-Herald misspelled Ron Hardersen’s name. It has been updated.

Predicted to last a few hundred years, Enumclaw High School welcomes their new greeter, the metal hornet.

In 2020, just before the COVID-19 lockdowns hit much of the U.S., Mayor Jan Molinaro asked former Enumclaw Highschool superintendent Mike Nelson what could rest in the middle of the Semanski St. roundabout. Nelson knew who could tackle this project, Enumclaw Highschool welding teacher Mark Berryhill.

Building a metal hornet was something Berryhill had thought about before, so when this opportunity came, he knew what would work.

“I’m an FFA advisor, so I spend a lot of time around other welding shop teachers and looking on Facebook, a lot of those classes do their school mascots, and I thought, ‘If they can do it, we can do it,’ Berryhill said. “It just looked like it’d be lots of fun.”

Molinaro introduced the idea over three years ago, but hornet construction began about 18 months ago.

The process started with students picking a computer numerical control file. From here, Berryhill said they used their Omax Waterjet, an industrial machine to cut materials using a high-pressure water jet.

“We started cutting the pieces out very slowly with water,” Berryhill said, “It’s amazing how accurate it is and how well it cuts. Everything is just perfect that comes off of it.”

Because it was a class project, much of the costs were covered by the school, Berryhill said, but Ron Hardersen from Ron and Leos Welding Services donated much of the sheet metal needed for the project.

During the installation process, the city provided a metal pole to nest the hornet at the Semanski St. roundabout. Berryhill said after he thought up how to present the hornet and brought it up to the students, they had strong opinions about the pole’s placement.

“In my mind, I thought we were going to cut it off low and then put it down closer to the ground,” Berryhill said. “And I got there, and the students just got after me and said, ‘Nope. The higher, the better. The higher we put it, the better it’ll look,’ So we didn’t really even cut the pole off.”

Berryhill said once the hornet was installed, the kids were proud of the work they had done. The students and Berryhill discussed how long they thought the hornet would be there. Berryhill said the steel would last hundreds of years, so he expects the hornet to be a permanent fixture for years to come.