A Students in Mrs. Drietz 4th grade art class were presented this past week with the mugs they made in honor of Memorial Day.
The local VFW Chapter donates the mugs each year along with the supplies to make them. Students can either keep their mugs for themselves or they are also encouraged to share them with a local veteran, which many of the students reportedly choose to do.
“Many of them are really attached to what they make,” said Art Teacher Laura Drietz, “which is what makes it so surprising.”

Drietz said the project is one the district has done alongside the VFW for years and they use the opportunity to talk with students about the importance of being a good patriot, what it means to serve our country, and recognize many of the students family along with staff that have put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms.
One student, on the day this photo was taken, happened to break his mug.
He was devastated.
In talking about why he might have been as emotional about it as he was, Drietz replied, “I think we have a lot more students anymore that maybe aren’t citizens, and those are some of the students that get the most excited about this project, because they’re the ones where it’s important that they become a citizen. And what our country means to them is different, to them, even this mug means that they’re American now.”
The mugs are one of the last art projects the 4th graders do ahead of summer break, students were excited to see their final products and be able to take them home.