Sunday, October 14, 2001
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Sunday, October 14, 2001 |
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Starr's Mill shows flag spirit to help attack victims
While many organizations are reaching out to help the adult victims of the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania, students at Starr's Mill High School are focusing on the children who lost parents or guardians due to the events of Sept 11. Teachers Sean Bennett and Kerry Wright have created a unique fund-raiser aimed at generating money for a scholarship fund that has been established for the children of the victims. Hanging in the cafeteria of Starr's Mill is nine by 12-foot outline of the American Flag. The flag is made up of 600 square parts, which students at the school can purchase to write personal messages of support to other students who were directly affected by the attacks. After all of the squares have been purchased and the flag is complete, Bennett and Wright plan to laminate and cut it into strips and ship it to a school in New York City. "We would like to make contact with a high school in Manhattan so that we can send them our messages of support. We just hope that we can be a part of their healing process," Wright said. Wright said the school hopes to raise $5,000 for the scholarship fund. In addition to selling squares for the flag, the school is also selling ribbons and stars. Students throughout Starr's Mill are helping with the fund-raiser from cutting ribbons to selling them, along with the squares and stars, to their peers during the school's lunch period. For a donation of $1, students can purchase a ribbon, $5 a square and a ribbon, and $10 a star and a ribbon. "So far student support has been solid. In the first three days we sold around 200 to 300 ribbons," Wright estimated. In addition to the paper flag, the school is also planning to display a living American flag during pregame events at the football game scheduled for Oct. 12. Preorders went out last week for students and faculty to purchase red, white and blue T-shirts for the formation of the flag. Art teacher Todd Little has created a design for the shirts, which will carry the words "Remember September 11, 2001" and the phrase "Our flag is still there" from "The Star Spangled Banner." Approximately 800 t-shirts are being printed. Little's art club students are going to print the design on the shirts using a silk screening process. "I wanted to create something that the kids could keep. I know that there have been dozens of reports of other schools doing living flags. It may not be unique anymore but it is still a good idea," Little said. Little has created a grid for the formation of the flag that encompasses 780 people. He says that if the schools sells all 780 slots it will double his expectations. "I hope that we have that situation. If we should sell more than 780, the grid can always be enlarged to accommodate more people," Little added. Dibs on T-shirt sales go to students and faculty at Starr's Mill. In the event that some shirts are not sold, then neighboring Rising Starr Middle School will be invited to participate. Proceeds will be donated to one of the relief funds established for the victims of last month's terrorist attacks.
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