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As she predicted at the very beginning of the year, Jasslyn Dahlberg really did “blow them outta the water.”

The Welding PSEO student’s entries to the ���ϲ����� Art Contest this year included three paintings and her metal panther, her capstone project. The 8’10” long panther claimed voters’ first place – by a lot.

After the display in ���ϲ�����’s main entryway, the art was moved to the Medium / Heavy Truck lab for BrewLäsh at the end of February. Dahlberg and her mom attended the event, where they got to chat with people as they checked out (and voted for) the panther.

“It was really cool seeing a lot of people encouraging me. They’re like, that’s so great. I was just soaking it up,” said Dahlberg.

The panther took life earlier this year when she saw something similar on Pinterest and decided to make it herself. After purchasing plans on Etsy, it turned out that they were incomplete and not very clear. Fortunately, ���ϲ����� has a Mechanical Design Engineering Technology program, which is where plans like this are made. She went to talk to instructor Dave Johnson.

With Johnson’s help, Dahlberg got a set of plans that showed how to cut the metal and the types of bend each piece needed. She got to work.

She and two fellow Welding students, Logan and Josh, cut the metal on the plasma table, bent them into place, sanded, and tacked them together. It will be sand-blasted and coated with Line-X. The final product will be up for auction, and many local businesses have already shown interest in bidding.

With all the buzz around her panther, it’s easy to forget that Dahlberg is still in high school. She was homeschooled through tenth grade and has spent her junior year here at ���ϲ����� in PSEO.

“Being with people every day is a little different than just being at home,” she said of differences from homeschooling. “I like it. It’s a change and I like change. I adapted really well.”

While she’s an artistic person at heart, when she and her mom attended a Welding Discovery Day, Dahlberg knew she had to learn to weld.

“Right then and there I signed up for classes. I think it’s just fun – it’s enjoyable.”

After graduating with her Welding degree in May, she plans to be back at ���ϲ����� this fall to start a Marketing & Design degree.

“I was going to do marketing or graphic design, photography, something that is artistic. I did welding first because I love welding and it was one year.”

When discussing longer-term plans, well, that’s up for debate. After she’s done with college, Dahlberg would like to travel and maybe work as a welder while doing that. Eventually she would like to open her own welding shop with the skills she’ll have learned at ���ϲ�����, but it’s not something she wants to say is for sure going to happen.

“I’m 17. We’ll see.”

In the present, though, she’s looking forward to finishing up the panther and taking on her next big thing, where, no doubt, she’ll jump in feet first.