thedrifter
01-13-07, 08:29 AM
Pupils show care for troops
Sixth-graders gather more than 11,000 items for U.S. forces in Iraq
January 13, 2007
By JEANNE HOVANEC STAFF WRITER
CARPENTERSVILLE -- If you think children aren't interested in the war in Iraq, Dundee Middle School's sixth-graders want you to think again.
In just more than two weeks, 125 sixth-graders took in more than 11,000 goods for U.S. soldiers, Marines and sailors stationed in Iraq.
"People think just because we are young we don't pay attention to the news," said sixth-grader Sydney Huber. "We are interested in what is happening and what the people over there are doing."
What started out as a friendly class competition to fulfill a community service project at school soon escalated into all-out competition between the four sixth-grade teams.
Whichever team could donate the most goods would win a coveted ice cream party.
Special education teacher Judy Giannini said teachers would send notes between classes taunting the pupils about beating each other and raising more goods. Giannini said the friendly competition fired up the children, but the presence of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Troy Risch brought the donation drive to a whole new level.
Giannini contacted Risch when she first had the idea for the project. She wanted to make sure the donations would make it to Iraq. Risch -- who works as an army recruiter in West Dundee -- told her if the children brought in items, he would get them delivered.
Risch even volunteered to speak to the teams. He spent a year stationed in the Middle East and served as the expert when pupils asked him what soldiers want to receive while they are there.
"I told them the soldiers get mail regularly and they like to know they have support," Risch said. "But if it were me, it would make my day to get chocolate. If I got that I would have been like, 'Oh yeah!' "
The pupils were listening and eager to help. Huber brought in games like checkers and Connect Four, and sixth-grader Amy Berggren wrote a special letter for her cousin's fiancé who is stationed there.
Sixth-grader Janos Csonka said he pleaded with his parents to donate more.
"My dad was in the military and I always thought it would be really cool to be in it," Csonka said. "I begged my parents so I could donate and help."
On Dec. 20, the pupils' enthusiasm paid off. Sixth-grader Nicholas Kaufmann said it took about 20 children a half-hour to load Giannini's Honda Accord and another teacher's sport utility vehicle to the brim.
When the vehicles pulled up to Risch's office, he was astonished.
"I would never have guessed they would have so much support so quickly," he said. "I was terribly impressed."
Risch said it took about 10 soldiers 25 minutes to unpack both vehicles overflowing with more than 11,000 items and pile them into an office to wait for a delivery.
Needless to say, Giannini said, every student was a part of the ice cream party.
But in the end, the students overwhelmingly said that the party didn't mean as much anymore as the feeling they got from donating items to the troops.
Ellie
Sixth-graders gather more than 11,000 items for U.S. forces in Iraq
January 13, 2007
By JEANNE HOVANEC STAFF WRITER
CARPENTERSVILLE -- If you think children aren't interested in the war in Iraq, Dundee Middle School's sixth-graders want you to think again.
In just more than two weeks, 125 sixth-graders took in more than 11,000 goods for U.S. soldiers, Marines and sailors stationed in Iraq.
"People think just because we are young we don't pay attention to the news," said sixth-grader Sydney Huber. "We are interested in what is happening and what the people over there are doing."
What started out as a friendly class competition to fulfill a community service project at school soon escalated into all-out competition between the four sixth-grade teams.
Whichever team could donate the most goods would win a coveted ice cream party.
Special education teacher Judy Giannini said teachers would send notes between classes taunting the pupils about beating each other and raising more goods. Giannini said the friendly competition fired up the children, but the presence of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Troy Risch brought the donation drive to a whole new level.
Giannini contacted Risch when she first had the idea for the project. She wanted to make sure the donations would make it to Iraq. Risch -- who works as an army recruiter in West Dundee -- told her if the children brought in items, he would get them delivered.
Risch even volunteered to speak to the teams. He spent a year stationed in the Middle East and served as the expert when pupils asked him what soldiers want to receive while they are there.
"I told them the soldiers get mail regularly and they like to know they have support," Risch said. "But if it were me, it would make my day to get chocolate. If I got that I would have been like, 'Oh yeah!' "
The pupils were listening and eager to help. Huber brought in games like checkers and Connect Four, and sixth-grader Amy Berggren wrote a special letter for her cousin's fiancé who is stationed there.
Sixth-grader Janos Csonka said he pleaded with his parents to donate more.
"My dad was in the military and I always thought it would be really cool to be in it," Csonka said. "I begged my parents so I could donate and help."
On Dec. 20, the pupils' enthusiasm paid off. Sixth-grader Nicholas Kaufmann said it took about 20 children a half-hour to load Giannini's Honda Accord and another teacher's sport utility vehicle to the brim.
When the vehicles pulled up to Risch's office, he was astonished.
"I would never have guessed they would have so much support so quickly," he said. "I was terribly impressed."
Risch said it took about 10 soldiers 25 minutes to unpack both vehicles overflowing with more than 11,000 items and pile them into an office to wait for a delivery.
Needless to say, Giannini said, every student was a part of the ice cream party.
But in the end, the students overwhelmingly said that the party didn't mean as much anymore as the feeling they got from donating items to the troops.
Ellie