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New Welcome to Yuma Sign In City's North Side

There is a new Welcome To Yuma sign greeting visitors to the area.  The sign was designed and built by Advanced Welding Class students from Yuma High School. 

It's a replica of the Yuma Territorial Prison archway, designed and built by Advanced Welding Class students at Yuma High School, under direction of welding instructor Gonzalo Huerta.  The "mini-beautification project" was directed from the City of Yuma Clean and Beautiful Commission.  The project then designed and built by the Yuma High Criminals welding class.  It pays homage to the school's history and nickname, as Yuma High made the Territorial Prison its home for a time, after a fire at the school site more than a century ago.

The students welded scrap metal to make the shape of the archway, located at the northwest corner of 4th Avenue and 1st Street.  As a part of National Public Works Week, the sign was unveiled Thursday.  Isaiah Gomez is in the Advanced Welding Class and is a Career and Technical Education Ambassador for Yuma High.  He saidtakes great pride in being part of the project.

"It was a really great experience, it was like, like a once in a lifetime experience, nothing like it," Gomez said.  "It's amazing.  I'll have made an impact in this community for years to come."

This is the fourth such project between the City of Yuma and the Yuma Union High School District.  The first was in 2016, when San Luis High School welders built a Welcome Sign on 32nd Street and Pacific Avenue.  In 2017 Kofa High welders built a Welcome Sign at the corner of Avenue B and 32nd Street.  And in 2018 Gila Ridge High School welders built a steamboat themed Welcome Sign on 16th Street near I-8.