It was more than a year ago when students at Chalmers Elementary first starting working on a carving for the school.
And last week, the gym at the North Delta school was buzzing with excitement as their hard word was unveiled.
Artist and carver Joe Miller explained how the seven students – named "master carvers" – began by collecting the wood from Sunbury Cedar. They then took it to Burnsview Secondary, where they worked for months with the high school students to put the wood together and start creating the design.
Once ready, the wood was brought back to Chalmers.
"The master carvers mentored other students in the school, so that almost every student was able to be involved in the carving in some way," explained Miller, who's a child and youth care worker with Delta School District. "Then our student painters did the finishing touches."
The carving, with its black and yellow bumblebee design, is fitting for Chalmers, whose mascot is the Chalmers Stinger. The carving is roughly two metres long and a metre high.
Seven students received "master carver" certificates during an assembly last week. The carving will hang in the elementary school's front hall.