Ceramics teacher Joshua Gwiazda created sign to create Global awareness for Bearcats and visitors

As students pass the 1000s building, heads turn to see a new landmark, with beautiful tile and student-painted arrows pointing to larger destinations worldwide. The compass at the base has a ring of students from 2016 who helped paint and assemble the tile,  and of teachers who helped the effort such as ceramics teacher Joshua Gwiazda and Justin Pickard.

“The Global Sign has been installed in the quad after three years of hard work and planning.  It was conceived by Geof Land’s leadership students over 10 years ago.  I collaborated with Justin Pickard and Principal Nelson to choose a site in the Quad and to create it.  I just completed welding the sign pole together last Semester in Justin’s evening Cuesta Metal Fabrication class.  The high school ceramics students are completing the last of the tiles now,” said Gwiazda.

He welded the pole and arrows; Pickard welded the ring that holds the tile base in place.

 All nine countries that foreign exchange students hail from this year are represented in this sculpture.

“The purpose of the sign is to encourage global awareness in our campus community and to honor our Bearcats that come from other countries each year,” Gwiazda said.

He thinks the school must represent new Bearcats. It gives students a perspective on the signs have a country and how far the students have come.

There is an arrow that does not represent a country; it reads “antipode.” Beneath the strange word is the longitude: 59.335815 and latitude: -35.632278, meaning the coordinates for the exact opposite of the world from the quad.

Pickard has a Cuesta College welding class he holds in the evenings at the school.

Keep an eye out. Soon a welded Bearcat head and a weather barometer will be placed at the top.