Military Appreciation Action Team

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 65

The grant application was submitted before the hurricane and the program had to be modified to support students in achieving a satisfactory outcome. Our main focus was to provide a learning experience about the military and veterans by opening a line of communication with members of the military and veterans. We also wanted to provide a service to our military members by providing care packages and a special  Veteran's Day lunch to our veterans in the community. Due to the impacts of the hurricane, this proved to be difficult to achieve. While we did have many visitors to our program, including members of the military and veterans, we decided to focus our program on our school resource officers that not only protect our schools, but many are also veterans; making this a good fit. 

During the school year, our students learned about many aspects of the military through program visitors and curriculum. They applied their knowledge during our annual leadership day, where they designed and displayed a board in our leadership fair. One gentleman, a retired maring pilot, was impressed with thier knowledge. 

Our students completed thier leadership service project by putting together care packages designed to help our school resource officers taht return to normal duties during the summer months. These packages included: A cold cup, Gatorade, Dude Wipes, Slim Jims, pistachios, gum, and a protien bar. These are all items that are helpful when on assignment and won't go bad in a hot car. Our deputy told the students, "You guys really nailed it! This are just the items we need!" I should also mention that the students Wrote thatn you letters and designed the bags! The impact was felt with 78 officers serving in Collier County.