Students salute, pray for military

St. Brigid's Regional School in Watervliet is wrapped in yellow. Not only are yellow ribbons hanging in all the windows, but they also adorn the walls. There are also yellow roses; an American flag made out of red, white and blue paper chains; and a big yellow ribbon on the flag pole.

All of the decoration was put together by students and teachers to support those who have relatives serving with the Armed Forces in the Middle East. The effort came about because, according to Patricia Eldridge, principal, the student body considers itself one big family.

She should know: One of the soldiers being honored is her son, who is somewhere in Iraq.

Prayer wall

"The staff and I are always encouraging our students to come to us with their concerns," Mrs. Eldridge said. "Each day, we offer those concerns up during morning prayer. When the children have worries, we try to work things out with them."

There is a prayer wall in the school where pictures hang of family members currently fighting in Iraq or stationed in the Middle East.

"Some of the students have uncles, aunts and cousins, and brothers and sisters who were deployed," Mrs. Eldridge explained.

Two years ago, when the principal's son, Matthew, was stationed in Kosovo, the children sent cards and candy to him and the soldiers in his unit.

Specialist Matthew Eldridge, 25, is a paratrooper with the U.S. Army's 82nd airborne battalion. When he returned from Kosovo, he visited the school several times; as a result, the principal said that "most of the children know him personally."

Graphic depictions

That connection led to an extraordinary series of events that began "when a sixth grade math class was working on a project of coordinates and graphing," the principal said. Their teacher, Patricia Moyles, always uses a picture for them to graph; this time, it happened to be a soldier.

"The students always hang their work outside of their classrooms, so others can see them," she continued. "One day, there appeared all these graphs of soldiers outside the math classroom on the second floor."

Soon, those graphs grew exponentially:

* Two years ago, in the aftermath of 9/11, the sixth-grade students made an American flag of red, white and blue paper chains; when the graphs were hung, a student suggested that they add the flag to another wall.

* Other students in the grade school began posting names of their loved ones who were serving overseas on the bulletin board for morning prayer intentions. "It wasn't very long before the students started adding pictures of family members next to their names," she said.

* Next, some students began to add yellow ribbons. In addition, they posted a map of the Middle East and placed push-pins in areas where family members are stationed: some in Iraq, some in Afghanistan, others on ships in the Persian Gulf and some in Kosovo.

* One student suggested that instead of yellow ribbons, they post roses, so yellow flowers began to appear over each picture.

* Then, the Spanish teacher decided to make a large yellow bow, which was attached to the flagpole outside.

* Because their principal's son is in Iraq, the students decided to put yellow ribbons in every window in the school.

Prayers and posters

What had begun as a math exercise blossomed into a school-wide effort of prayer and support for the troops overseas.

Once a week, the students pray for all the soldiers on the boards. They also added a poster of St. Francis of Assisi with the Peace Prayer on it. Within the next few weeks, the school is planning a patriotic poster contest and an assembly to support the troops.

"One of our school's mottoes is ASAP, meaning 'Always Say A Prayer,'" said Mrs. Eldridge. "It is in situations just like this one, when we feel things are out of our control, that we use our motto."

(4/17/03) [[In-content Ad]]