LYNN — Tech junior Makaila Mith has never participated in the Tough Ruck, walking 26.2 miles with a 15-pound pack on her back. But she will be part of the veterans remembrance and fundraising event when Ruckers cross the finish line on Saturday.
Top finishers will each receive a two-pound aluminum cannon slightly larger than a shoe crafted by Mith and fellow Lynn Vocational Technical Institute advanced manufacturing students.
“It’s awesome knowing it is something we all made together,” said junior Jarett Koch.
Advanced manufacturing instructor Michael Pickering and his students presented a dozen cannons on Thursday to Lynn Director of Veterans Services Michael Sweeney, who will walk his eighth Ruck on Saturday. Sweeney’s wife, Sarah, is the executive director of Military Friends Foundation, the Ruck’s official charity.
Tough Ruck is held annually on the weekend before the Boston Marathon in partnership with the Boston Athletic Association. The course winds through Bedford, Concord, and Lexington in the vicinity of hallowed Revolutionary War battle sites.
Assembled during a three-month course session using the machine shop’s state-of-the-art equipment, the cannons are outfitted with wheels and a barrel that can be raised and lowered.
Pickering said the students took pride in honoring veterans, public-safety workers, and everyone else who commits to walking for veterans and those who lost their lives in service to the country.
He said Tech students started making the cannons in 2015 for inclusion in gift baskets provided to veterans Welcome Home program participants. One of the cannons caught the eye of Michael Sweeney, who thought the cannons would be a perfect honor for top finishers.
“People should know how great a job these kids are doing,” Sweeney said.
With 75 students enrolled in advanced manufacturing, and evening classes offered, the machine shop is a busy place.
Pickering said 19 Tech seniors are enrolled in cooperative training programs in area machine shops and good-paying careers await advanced manufacturing graduates with 400 shops located in a 10-mile radius of Lynn.
“I can’t say enough about the program,” said School Committee member Lorraine Gately, who attended Thursday’s presentation with City Council Vice President Buzzy Barton.
Pickering said the cannons are a complex project for high-school students to mill and assemble and require proficiency in all of the shop’s machines.
“By the end of the day, it looks really good,” said junior Elvira Zacarias.
Pickering is proud to affiliate his students with Tough Ruck. Participants raise money to support programs helping veterans and their families. Packs weighing up to 35 pounds are adorned with yellow ribbons bearing the names of veterans killed in service to the country and Gold Star families.
“It’s an amazing cause,” he said.
