Northwest Elementary students send memories of home to soldiers

Amityville's Northwest Elementary students in Peggy Gonser's and Margaret Brookes' classes are focusing on more than reading, writing and arithmetic lately. The students have made a special connection with "Captain Brian" Roemer and the other soldiers in his unit, who are currently stationed in Iraq. Gonser's son, J.T. Gonser, a 1996 Amityville Memorial High School graduate and a Lieutenant in the United States Navy is a personal friend of Captain Roemer's, and helped the students make the connection with him and his fellow soldiers.

As part of the curriculum, students engage in shared writing, which was the first phase of their monthly project. On large sheets of lined paper, students each wrote part of a letter that will be sent off to Iraq, along with a homemade apple orchard crafted out of construction paper and tissue paper, and a collage of autumn leaves that has been laminated to preserve the foliage that the soldiers don't get to experience and enjoy during their tours in the desert. With the assistance of their teachers, students visit a website where they can see the soldiers that they are helping with their gifts and kind words.

According to Gonser, the next phase of the students' project will coincide with Earth Day, when the students will recycle bottles and cans, and use the funds to purchase soccer balls for Iraqi children who are lacking such luxuries in this war torn part of the world. Shown in the photo, at Northwest Elementary School, students have reached out to Captain Brian Roemer and other soldiers in his unit, and participate in monthly projects that are sent to Iraq for the American soldiers to enjoy.

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