Kevin Cederstrom
A group of New York Mills kindergarten students have a reason to pay closer attention to the war in Iraq.
They've "adopted" a soldier.
Last Friday, Bridget Weller's kindergarten class received a special visit from Ashley Harguth, a Army National Guard soldier being deployed to Iraq some time this month.
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Ashley is from Little Falls and her connection to New York Mills is young cousin, Jenna Borchert, who is in Mrs. Weller's class.
The class plans to keep in contact with Ashley by sending the soldier letters, drawings, and emails.
Ashley sat down with the class and visited as the students looked impressed with the military uniform, and gazed wide-eyed when the soldier demonstrated a salute.
Ashley provided the students a little background. The soldier went to school in Little Falls, finished high school and went on to college, where she discovered she wanted more action and decided to join the Army.
Ashley went to Basic Training, and when asked what that was like, responded by saying she did a lot of running.
"Do you guys like to run?, she asked the students.
"YEAH!", they responded in unison.
She also told the children soldiers do a lot of marching and have to stand up straight and be quiet.
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"You see boys and girls, it's not just Mrs. Weller who wants you to be quiet in the hallways," the teacher joked.
Ashley went to school in Alabama to learn how to be an air traffic controller in the military, where she finished first in her class.
"Alabama is way down south," she told the students. "I had to go to school just like you guys are doing. I had to learn how to control traffic in the air. And I had to learn the basics of military life, like marching and shooting a weapon."
The soldier shared some of her interests.
"I like to watch T.V. I like to go for runs and exercise. I play with my dogs. And I love pizza," she told the kids, who one after another responded by saying, "I like pizza." "I like pizza." "I like pizza."
Mrs. Weller asked if any of the students had questions to ask Ashley, reminding her kindergarteners a question is something you ask, not a story to tell. But as is the case many times in kindergarten, the questions simply turned to statements.
"I like to ride my bike," Malachi Freidrichs told Ashley. "But now it has a flat tire."
Austin Vandermay told they newly adopted soldier he likes to climb the fence at his house.
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"I like to play with my horse, if I had one," Bree Meehl said.
Rhonda Schornack, of the NY Mills V.F.W. Post 3289 auxillary, is Jenna Borchert's aunt and arranged the meeting Friday. Schornack said she's seen classes adopt entire units and thought it would be good for the students and Ashley for the class take on this project.
Jenna and her parents, Jason and Tracy, live in New York Mills.
