Smith Elementary School students have created posters showing support for the military to be delivered to Fort Campbell, Kentucky in time for Veterans Day.
The project for kindergarten through sixth-grade classrooms was created after learning that Smith third-grade teacher Kandice Castillo’s husband was stationed at Fort Campbell, said art teacher Adrian Zakula.
Six hundred students were involved in the project, creating posters using paper, fabric and tissue paper. The school-wide effort was meant to thank soldiers for their service, Zakula said.
“We appreciate their hard work,” Zakula said of the veterans who will receive the posters. “We’re definitely thinking about them here in Columbus, Indiana. We have a lot of enthusiastic, young patriots here at Smith Elementary and Veterans Day is always a big deal.”
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Zakula, who is in his first year of teaching at Smith, said students could design anything they wished on a poster, but each needed to contain the words Fort Campbell and Smith Elementary, Columbus, Indiana, in the presentation.
Fifth-grade student Jakeel Lisby included the American flag with a message of support for Fort Campbell.
“They fight for our country,” Lisby said.
Kandice Castillo said her husband, First Sgt. Christopher Castillo, has been stationed at the U.S. Army military installation for two years. Castillo said she was contacted by Zakula after she sent out a school-wide e-mail about what students could do to support the military.
Castillo said she knows that individuals based at Fort Campbell will be appreciative of the work by students at Smith. The posters will be personally delivered by Christopher Castillo.
“They are saying thank you and I don’t think they often get that chance,” she said. “I’m very proud of what I’ve seen so far.”
