POTSDAM -- The First Presbyterian Church in Potsdam is continuing a 25-year Christmas tradition thanks to some help from a Clarkson University Student Projects for Engineering Experience & Design (SPEED) team.

The church hoists a 16-foot-wide lighted Christmas star high onto the peak of its 150-foot-high steeple each November. The star can be seen from all around the village, shining down during the yuletide season.

This year, the star's battered aluminum frame was finally beyond repair, so Clarkson Prof. Richard Partch, moderator of the church's board of deacons, sought help from School of Engineering Supervisor of Technical Support Service Ted Ritzko and SPEED Director Bob Davis.

"Our Steel Bridge Team came to mind, as this project would involve welding and fabrication, and the team was looking for a project to hone their skills on in preparation for next semester's ASCE Steel Bridge Competition," says Davis.

The students met with Partch, who has been in charge of positioning the lighted star on the steeple more than two decades, and convinced him to let them build a new star out of chrome molybdenum steel tubing, which has a good strength-to-weight ratio in addition to corrosion-resistance qualities.

The team then put together leftover steel from a previous bridge project with a steel donation from the Baja SAE SPEED team. They fabricated and painted the new star in time for the church's star-raising deadline.

Partch thanked the Steel Bridge Team and their mentors on behalf of the church's congregation for "a superb job in welding the new star framework."

The First Presbyterian Church's Christmas star will be switched on Sunday, Nov. 28, and shine until January 7.