One major job of the public school system is to give teens the tools they need to become successful adults.

According to an article by staff writer William Pitts that appeared on page 2 of the Eagle’s Sunday edition, an excellent example of just that happened recently in Evans City.

Council members at their July borough meeting voted to approve the construction of three signs that will welcome motorists to the borough.

Normally, that would be a mundane piece of news, but in this case, the signs were designed in a collaboration between three creative students from the Butler County Vocational-Technical School and the borough council members.

The three vo-tech students — Zoey Coffey, Bethany Scuticchio and Madison Smith — submitted the sign designs that were approved by council.

The students worked for one year on perfecting their designs with final input from council members.

The three artistic students also presented their designs before the Evans City council, which can be a daunting task for a teenager.

Cheri Deener-Kohan, council president, was extremely impressed with the presentations and the students’ professional demeanor as they described their designs before the board.

“They gave us a sales pitch … like, ‘This is what I did, this is why we did it, this is what I was looking to enhance for your town.’ Just like they would do if they walked into a job and they had to do it,” Deener-Kohan said.

The signs feature facets of Evans City’s history, like trains or train tracks, oil wells that denote the town’s past renown for oil production, and zombies that represent the borough’s status as the filming location for the world’s first flesh-eating zombie movie, the 1968 cult classic “Night of the Living Dead.”

Each sign will be built one by one at the vo-tech school.

The Eagle salutes this collaboration between a borough that is proud of its rich history and a school that ably educates students from across the county.

Everybody wins in the project, as the borough will receive professional-grade signs, and students will gain experience in design and production.

Lets hope this partnership is the sign of many more to come in the future.

— PG