I began the Soldier Adoption Project 14 years ago as a way for my students to not only better understand the importance of supporting our troops serving overseas, but also to teach them about international affairs as well as geography and positive citizenship. Since the project began my classes have adopted 9 different Soldiers and Marines in which time we have sent a wide variety of items including: holiday packages, treats, homemade cookies the students baked at school, toiletries, movies, cds, snacks, letters, sock monkeys through our Operation Sock Monkey program, an X-Box, and many other things. The men and women greatly appreciate these packages and in return send the students e-mails, letters, cards, and gifts. Some of the gifts have included Afghan money, photographs, a flag flown over the base in Salerno, Afghanistan in honor of the class, hats, military flags and banners, and even more! My class has even received the Freedom Salute Award presented by the United States Army in honor of our service and dedication to this classroom project. The students look forward to corresponding with "our" soldiers and often receive weekly e-mails detailing the events that have happened to them during their deployments. It is such a rewarding program for not just the students, but also myself! A special "thanks" goes out to The Tuscola Women's Club for sponsoring this project and providing the funds for all of my shipping all year long! Last year we shipped approximately 65 boxes!