For almost two weeks, a sand Raider greeted students when they arrived on campus. But now the 14-foot figure is gone.

The sand sculpture was created by Jon Woodworth, who makes creations like this professionally. Woodworth’s daughter Heather is a senior and was excited to find a way help out her class.

“I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a long time,” Heather said. “My dad has done it for other schools, so they thought they could do it here.  We wanted to do something that would help Project Grad.”

Construction of the statue took five days while students were off for February Conference.  The whole Woodworth family helped create it and also donated the sand and their time for free. The statue raised more than $1000 for Project Grad from the advertisements on the front and the hearts on the back. Students, parents and faculties had the opportunity to buy space and their messages were inscribed on the back of the sculpture on sand shaped like hearts.

 Jon Woodworth even came back and fixed the sculpture for free when it was vandalized.

“It was sad, but we were happy that he was able to finish it in that day,” Project Grad President Cherryll Price said. “He took so much time and effort building it. It was sad that someone would destroy it.”

The sculpture, which wasn’t meant to be a permanent installation, remained in the grass at the front of campus for almost two weeks. For Heather, this was a chance to give back to the class that she grew up with. She was able to give the class the ending to four years of high school that they deserve.

“I’m glad I got a chance to do something for the senior class,” Woodworth said. “I knew a lot of people since kindergarten. I wanted us to go out this a bang.”