thedrifter
05-24-06, 07:40 AM
Pupils write letters to Marines
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
By JENNIFER PICARD
jpicard@repub.com
BELCHERTOWN - A Marine platoon stationed in Iraq is getting special greetings from fourth-graders at Chestnut Hill Community School.
Pupils have struck up a correspondence with soldiers through Lance Cpl. Jeff Shaw, a Belchertown resident who is a Marine security guard in Iraq.
Fourth-grader Jacob H. Humiston, 9, initiated the letter-writing campaign in early April. Shaw is the son of the one of Humiston's mother's friends.
The corporal responded by enclosing his photo, a list of other soldiers in his unit to whom students could write, and some personal information.
Shaw, 24, grew up in Belchertown and Ware, and with his girlfriend, Erin Poolen, is expecting twins - a boy and girl - in June. Student teacher Lindsey Glabach, a senior at Mount Holyoke College, told children in Carol Wagner's fourth-grade class about Shaw on May 2.
"(Soldiers) don't get to see their families there, and they don't get a lot of letters, so I'm sure they will appreciate your letters," Glabach told the class. She advised pupils on proper letter composition, suggested letter topics and guided pupils as they copied final drafts.
Jacob said he felt a special bond with Shaw, as he has a twin brother, Noah, and aspires to enter the military as an adult. He said he was writing a general letter to everyone in Shaw's unit, "asking them questions and stuff, like, how are you doing, and I hope you come back safe, and stuff."
William C. Schmidt, 10, composed a letter to Lance Cpl. Kevin Tagouski.
"I told him about my life, and my sisters and siblings, and I'm saying I'm glad he's in ... Iraq right now," said William.
Miranda N. Twining, 10, thought about what everyday life is like for an American soldier in Iraq as she wrote a letter to Lance Cpl. Mark Wilson.
"I think it's like, really hard to take care of everybody, and keep everybody's life going," she said. "It's really hot over there, and people don't have a lot of medicines and things like we do here."
Glabach said the project not only spurs lessons in geography and current events, but gives students a sense of what it means to be a soldier fighting a war overseas.
"It gives them more of a picture of what's going on over there," she said.
Ellie
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
By JENNIFER PICARD
jpicard@repub.com
BELCHERTOWN - A Marine platoon stationed in Iraq is getting special greetings from fourth-graders at Chestnut Hill Community School.
Pupils have struck up a correspondence with soldiers through Lance Cpl. Jeff Shaw, a Belchertown resident who is a Marine security guard in Iraq.
Fourth-grader Jacob H. Humiston, 9, initiated the letter-writing campaign in early April. Shaw is the son of the one of Humiston's mother's friends.
The corporal responded by enclosing his photo, a list of other soldiers in his unit to whom students could write, and some personal information.
Shaw, 24, grew up in Belchertown and Ware, and with his girlfriend, Erin Poolen, is expecting twins - a boy and girl - in June. Student teacher Lindsey Glabach, a senior at Mount Holyoke College, told children in Carol Wagner's fourth-grade class about Shaw on May 2.
"(Soldiers) don't get to see their families there, and they don't get a lot of letters, so I'm sure they will appreciate your letters," Glabach told the class. She advised pupils on proper letter composition, suggested letter topics and guided pupils as they copied final drafts.
Jacob said he felt a special bond with Shaw, as he has a twin brother, Noah, and aspires to enter the military as an adult. He said he was writing a general letter to everyone in Shaw's unit, "asking them questions and stuff, like, how are you doing, and I hope you come back safe, and stuff."
William C. Schmidt, 10, composed a letter to Lance Cpl. Kevin Tagouski.
"I told him about my life, and my sisters and siblings, and I'm saying I'm glad he's in ... Iraq right now," said William.
Miranda N. Twining, 10, thought about what everyday life is like for an American soldier in Iraq as she wrote a letter to Lance Cpl. Mark Wilson.
"I think it's like, really hard to take care of everybody, and keep everybody's life going," she said. "It's really hot over there, and people don't have a lot of medicines and things like we do here."
Glabach said the project not only spurs lessons in geography and current events, but gives students a sense of what it means to be a soldier fighting a war overseas.
"It gives them more of a picture of what's going on over there," she said.
Ellie