The students of Shari Powell’s fifth grade class at Greenville Middle School have erected a bulletin board in honor of their family members and friends that have been deployed to the Middle East to fight in the Iraqi war.

&uot;It all started as a letter-writing project I gave the class, asking them to write a letter to my brother Jody Powell, who is an E6 First Class in the Navy and serving on the U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard,&uot; Powell said. &uot;He has been deployed to the Middle East, and I thought he would get a boost from the letters, and the kids would enjoy the project.&uot;

In the course of discussing the letter-writing exercise, several of the students suggested they create a &uot;Patriotic Tree&uot; in honor of Powell’s brother.

&uot;I thought ‘That’s a great idea, but we need more than just my brother’s name on it,’&uot; the teacher said. &uot;I thought a bulletin board in the hall with the names of the classes’ deployed family members and friends would be more meaningful.&uot;

The children brought in names of their relatives and loved ones, and the names were placed on miniature flags and placed in the hall on the bulletin board.

&uot;This has been very popular with the students,&uot; Powell said. &uot;We started off with just our class, but now everyone in the school wants to have their family members’ names placed on the board. We are going to have to expand the board to get them all on there.&uot;

Powell said she feels the project has helped the students express their fears and concerns about the war.

&uot;This is a way that they can do something and feel like they are taking part,&uot; she said.