Oak Grove Middle students with "Mrs. T" and Mr. Smet
From Liisa, SMSgt Temple’s wife: I am using the space tonight to tell you about an amazing visit I had yesterday to talk about Rex’s school supplies drive at Oak Grove Middle School in Clearwater, Florida.
A few weeks ago we got an e-mail from Benjamin Smet. He is the Spanish teacher at Oak Grove and prior to teaching he served eight years in the
Mr. Smet leading the students with WUSF Radio's Bobbie O'Brien capturing sound in the background
U.S. Navy. He’s currently in the “Troops to Teachers” program and loves being a teacher. The reason for his e-mail was a story he had heard on WUSF Radio; the one where Rex talked about his school supplies charity drive for Afghan children. Mr. Smet felt this project would be perfect for his multi-cultural committee this fall and invited us to visit with the school. (Rex couldn’t call in today but hopefully he can do it via Skype as a video link-up later on this school year.)
And what a visit I had with this wonderful school! About 100 kids filled the cafeteria and listened to the presentation about Rex’s school supplies drive and the importance
Oak Grove seventh grader Ryan Cardwell and Mrs T
of education. The students were so polite and engaged and asked great questions. At the end of my time there a young man by the name of Ryan Cardwell came up to me and handed me a stack of school supplies. Ryan is a 7th grader and simply said he wanted to help.
However, Ryan was not alone. I was quickly surrounded by a half a
Ana Benz, who is in the 8th grade, being interviewed for WUSF Radio
dozen other students who also were carrying bags of supplies – enough to fill one big box! Among this group was Ana Benz, who is in the 8th grade. I had been impressed by her intellect earlier when I overheard her being interviewed for WUSF Radio. But she literally took my breath away when she told me that Rex is her hero. What a beautiful comment and one that really warms this Air Force wife’s heart.
I can’t thank Mr. Smet enough for the invite to visit. What amazing children and what wonderful teachers. Thank you so much for your support for the school supplies project!
Here is a link to a story that ran about the visit on WUSF Radio: Oak Grove Joins Afghan Drive
If you would like updates about the school supplies project, sign up to be a fan of this effort on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Afghanistan-My-Last-Tour/195225755292
Mrs T's favorite photo of the day - so proud of these budding multimedia journalists who covered the event for their own middle school newscast
Filed under: School supplies project Tagged: | Afghanistan, Air Force wife, Benjamin Smet, Clearwater, Deployment, education, family, military spouse, news, Oak Grove Middle School, photography, Pinellas County Public Schools, U.S. Air Force, war, WUSF
