PERRYSBURG — During this past school year, students in Penta Career Center’s manufacturing programs collaborated on a unique project, in conjunction with Wood County, to create and build a 10-foot battering ram for a SWAT vehicle.

The students from computer-aided design created the design, students in welding fabricated the heavy beam, and precision machining students created components.

The battering ram will be secured to the front of the SWAT vehicle, and it is adjustable.

Jackson Cygnor, a senior at Penta Career Center and a Perrysburg native, helped unveil the battering ram on the Penta campus May 17.

He explained the Wood County Sheriff’s Office gave the vehicle to Penta last year and asked students to make the door buster to keep its officers safer when needing to breach a home.

The project went from small mock up to making schematics for the welding class that provided the needed symbols and measurements to weld it up. Cygnor said he had the help of the CAD class to draft those up and give him a final blue print.

Cygnor said that it took around 70 hours to make, and it wasn’t without its challenges: The CAD mock up didn’t always match to what needed to mount to the truck and so a few trips back and forth happened.

Representatives from Wood County’s SWAT team were in attendance along with Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn.