What did you do this semester? Clone fruit flies? Learn about logarithms?
Gary Blazek spent it welding a 500 lb. sculpture of Thor, his school’s mascot. Now, that’s a project you don’t often hear about!
College mascot recreated in metal
Monday, Dec 07, 2009
By Lynne Lynch
Herald staff writerMOSES LAKE — His horned helmet reaches the height of the highest bookshelf in Shawn McDaniel’s welding classroom at Big Bend Community College.
The helmet wearer is Thor, a metal statue of the college’s Viking mascot, created by student Gary Blazek. Thor weighs between 450 to 500 pounds and is made of a variety of parts.
Thor was quietly standing in the corner of the classroom last week, just a few days before fall quarter’s end.
His creator, Blazek, 55, was laid off from Genie Industries in February. At the company’s Moses Lake plant, he welded swing units and also worked on a new production line.
He started taking welding classes at the college to improve his pipe welding skills and to make himself more marketable to potential employers.
In October, he responded to instructor McDaniel’s request for students to make items benefiting a student scholarship fund.
Using donated scrap metal from his past employer and a plow disc, he started working on Thor.
