A high-flying thank-you for Windermere Elementary students

The assignment was simple: write a thank-you letter to a soldier serving overseas.

But the outcome was greater than anyone expected.

It all began last spring as the 2015-16 school year was coming to a close at Windermere Elementary School, and the Kindergarten teachers were trying to come up with one more weekly homework assignment for their students.

Having just video-chatted with her Air Force stepson who was serving in an undisclosed location in the Middle East Region, Susan Olde thought it might be nice for the students to write letters to men and women serving overseas, especially with Memorial Day right around the corner.

Each student was tasked with writing a letter and bringing in a small snack baggie to send Olde’s stepson’s unit.

It’s important to say thank you, said first-grader Ashton Kenner, who participated in the assignment last year.

“My dad was a police officer,” Ashton said. “I say, ‘Thank you for your service,’ because my dad taught me that.”

Olde said that she never expected the incredible support this assignment received.

“It just snowballed into this big thing,” said Olde, who has been a Kindergarten teacher for 28 years. “We got in huge boxes (of supplies).”

Nearly 100 pounds of letters and supplies were collected and shipped to the Middle East.

“The letters were very inspiring,” Olde said.

Getting to write letters to men and women in the military was “really cool,” said Riley Brice.

“They defend our freedom and save our lives,” the first grader said. “We should do sometime nice for them.”

One of the coolest parts was not knowing where the letters were getting delivered and who would read them, said Ashton.

“You never know who it’s going to be sent to,” He said.

After everything was collected and shipped, Olde told her stepson to keep an eye on the mail but didn’t say why.

“We just told (my stepson) that something was coming,” Olde said. “He had no idea (what it was).”

The package took nearly two months to arrive. When it finally got there, everyone could hardly believe how much the students had sent. The letters were all hung on the walls of the main barracks for everyone to enjoy. The food and snacks were laid out on the tables so everyone could eat what they wanted.

But the story didn’t end there.

To thank the Windermere Elementary students for the letters and snacks, Olde’s stepson created a video of him flying in his aircraft. But because of the sensitive nature of his mission, it took several months before the video was cleared by the military and sent to Olde.

For the students who knew the video was coming, waiting was a challenge.

“It felt like forever,” said Angela Kourie, one of the students who had written a letter for the assignment.

Finally the video arrived, just in time for the holidays. In it, Olde’s stepson can been seen holding cue cards.

“Listen to your teacher, study hard and play hard!” one card read.

At the end of the video he flashed a card that read, “Thank you Windermere Elementary!” before signaling the jet next to him to fly away.

“It was awesome,” Ashton said about the video.

Olde said that her stepson was in the middle of refueling at the time of the video, which was why he was able to film it in the air without having to control his jet.

Although the students were able to see the video right before Veteran’s Day, the district didn’t officially release the video until the end of December to celebrate Pledge of Allegiance Day.

For the students who write letters, seeing the video was not only “cool” but for some it was also an emotional experience.

“I had to take a tissue,” Angela said. “I had a little tears.”

Contact Brittany Gaines at [email protected].