2017 North Callaway graduates honor school

North Callaway High School seniors, from left, Taylor Bates, A.J. Krampe and Nichole Kelly stand by the school's new statue. Their class graduates Friday, but first, classmates dedicated this immense thunderbird sculpture to their school Wednesday morning.
North Callaway High School seniors, from left, Taylor Bates, A.J. Krampe and Nichole Kelly stand by the school's new statue. Their class graduates Friday, but first, classmates dedicated this immense thunderbird sculpture to their school Wednesday morning.

AUXVASSE - North Callaway students have been known for 50 years as the Thunderbirds - and now they can prove it.

On Wednesday morning, members of the Class of 2017 gathered by the superintendent's office - just down the private road to the high school - and dedicated an eye-catching new sculpture. It's a green and white thunderbird, 18 feet tall and nearly that wide, in an area now known as Thunderbird Park.

"I think it's really awesome," senior Nichole Kelly said. "I'm happy that when we come back, or when everybody else comes back, that they can see it."

Graduation is Friday, so all the parents and other family members also will get a glimpse of the new metal sculpture, created in part by Cody Zuroweste Welding of Auxvasse.

"I helped design and put it together," Zuroweste said. "It took about five days to put together."
Class members helped pay for the sculpture by raising funds, according to Adrenne Kelly Branson, class supporter and mother of 2017 graduate Wyatt Branson.

"All the kids have been coming out to our house for four years to work on floats," she said. "We started talking this year about making something for a float that we could do for the school but it didn't work out.

"So we put this together."

Then the idea came about to build an oversized thunderbird - a supernatural bird of strength and power, capable of creating great storms and thunder with its massive wings.

In a small ceremony, members of the 2017 graduating class thanked those who helped make the thunderbird rise above the newly named park, including Shryocks Callaway Farm, Lacross lumber, parents - plus Kevin Zuroweste and Scott Wright as well as Cody Zuroweste for his construction and welding talents. They also thanked the school's board of education and administration for letting them offer the gift to the school.

"So this is their legacy that they'll leave behind," Branson added.

The high school is being celebrated May 27 on its 50th anniversary, with a catered barbecue for alumni and more behind the high school. The event will run 5-9 p.m. with live music and a program.