Community Education Center of Elk & Cameron Counties, and Artist John Schlimm are Partnering with the Elk County Commissioners to Create 30,000 Powdered Metal “U.S. Flag Coins” to Celebrate the 250th Birthday of the United States

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(Elk County, PA – March 2026) – The creative collective of St. Marys Area High School’s Dutch Manufacturing (DM) students, Community Education Center of Elk and Cameron Counties (CEC), and international award-winning author, artist, advocate, and educator John Schlimm (JS) has partnered with the Elk County Commissioners—Fritz Lecker, Matt Quesenberry, and Greg Gebauer—to design and produce “The U.S. Flag Coin.”

“This very cool ‘U.S. Flag Coin’ has been an incredible opportunity for us to collaborate with the DM x JS x CEC collective and local businesses to celebrate one of the most iconic symbols in the world and to create a shiny birthday gift for our country from right here in Elk County,” said Commissioner Lecker, who is also the A250PA County Advisor. “And, the best part is that we get to share the coins with residents across Elk County so they can each have a piece of this local and national history.”

Made of powdered metal and manufactured in an edition of 30,000, “The U.S. Flag Coins” will be distributed at no charge across Elk County throughout 2026 to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States. Elk County residents can also pick up coins during regular business hours at the Elk County Commissioners office inside the Elk County Courthouse Annex at 300 Center Street in Ridgway, PA, and the Community Education Center at 4 Erie Avenue #200 in St. Marys, PA, among other locations to be announced.

The DM x JS x CEC collective has been working with the Elk County Commissioners since January 2025, collaboratively discussing, conceptualizing, and finalizing the design, materials, and roll-out for “The U.S. Flag Coin,” along with the assistance of an Independent Drafting student, who transformed the design from 2-D to 3-D.

“It really is such an honor to be a part of Dutch Manufacturing, and it’s so amazing to see how far we have come in only four years and to see the impact we have made,” said SMAHS Sophomore and DM President Drake Eckhart. “I am really proud of all of us for putting in the effort to make this happen.”

Every design detail for “The U.S. Flag Coin” was meticulously brainstormed, discussed, edited, tweaked, and finalized by the DM x JS x CEC collective over the course of several months last year.

“The CEC is continuously impressed with the skills and talents of the Dutch Manufacturing students and we are excited to partner on this historic project,” said CEC Executive Director Kate Brock.

Skills-based and student-led, Dutch Manufacturing is a high school program that is focused on developing students for the ever-growing world of Advanced Manufacturing. The skills that are developed throughout this program translate into qualified individuals who will be successful in the manufacturing sector, post-secondary education, and/or an apprenticeship/internship type of program. The DM students have already designed and manufactured several items for local businesses since the program started in 2022.

“This ‘U.S. Flag Coin’ represents not only a fun and tangible keepsake of our country’s founding, but also the strength of local partnerships which serve as a reminder of our country’s great collaborative effort,” said Commissioner Quesenberry.

The Elk County Commissioners generously sponsored the production of “The U.S. Flag Coin.” The 30,000 coins were manufactured by Metco Industries, with powdered metal from Advantage Metal Powders, tools by St. Marys Tool & Die, and coating by Ion Technologies. These four, local companies generously donated their services and materials for this project.

“This project has been a great opportunity for us Commissioners to highlight patriotism and ingenuity in Elk County, ranging from classroom creatives to factory workers, and to create a piece of history that honors our great country on its 250th birthday,” said Commissioner Gebauer.

In addition to “The U.S. Flag Coin,” the Elk County Commissioners collaborated with Schlimm and Elk County’s 4,000 K-12 students to create “The United Colors of Liberty” Liberty Bell as part of America250PA’s “Bells Across PA” series. Completed during Spring and Summer 2025, the Bell was installed and dedicated on the grounds of the Elk County Courthouse in November 2025. A short, companion documentary titled “SPLASH-TASTIC” filmed by Louie Milliard was also recently released.

“My work as a professional artist started with a primitive Americana Folk Art collection in the early 2000s, which included many U.S. Flags, including the one I created for a charity auction in New York to benefit the Twin Towers Orphan Fund following 9/11,” said Schlimm. “So, getting to work on this special ‘U.S. Flag Coin’ twenty-five years later with some of my favorite co-artists at Dutch Manufacturing to celebrate our country’s birthday is very much a fantastic full-circle moment for me.”

Over the past year, the Elk County Commissioners have also worked with the America250PA team to plant a “Liberty Tree” at the Elk Country Visitor Center in Benezette, hosted The Amerioca250PA “Countdown to 250 Mobile Experiential Unit” at the Elk County Fair, and offered mini-grants to local individuals, groups, and businesses to do projects celebrating America’s Semiquincentennial during 2026.

Conceptualizing and creating at the intersections of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) and community service, in addition to “The U.S. Flag Coin,” the DM students’ first project as part of the DM x JS x CEC collective was “THE SMILE COIN,” an edition of 4,000 powdered metal coins released in 2023. This was followed by “The 988 Coin” for which 30,000 powdered metal coins were created in partnership with the Cameron/Elk Suicide Prevention Task Force, distributed throughout Elk and Cameron Counties, and honored as part of the PA Office of Rural Health’s 2025 “Pennsylvania Regional Rural Health Program of the Year” among other statewide and national accolades. The collective is also about to complete more than two years of work on “The Pillars: A Monument Honoring Our Local Carbon & Powdered Metal Industries,” which will be permanently installed in front of the St. Marys Area High School.

“The 250th birthday of America matters, and Dutch Manufacturing is proud to have again collaborated with the Community Education Center and John Schlimm, and additionally partnered with the Elk County Commissioners, to craft a symbol worthy of its meaning and celebration,” said Dutch Manufacturing Coordinator Jesse Schreiber. “Also, a huge thank you to St. Marys Tool and Die, Inc., Metco Industries, Inc., Ion Technologies, and Advantage Metal Powders, Inc. for working with the students to make this America250PA-Elk County project a success.”

The DM x JS x CEC collective is also currently in the midst of a multi-media, bullying awareness project titled “Thumbs Down to Bullying”—in partnership with Dickinson Center’s Children’s Prevention Services, Penn State Extension, and the CEC’s Leadership Elk and Cameron—for the 2025/2026 school year.