DOVER, Fla. — Students at Nelson Elementary School spent part of their day taking part in the “Holiday Letters for Heroes” program to send to service members who are deployed.

Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez invited all students at Purple Star schools to participate. 

What You Need To Know

  • Nelson Elementary is one of the first Purple Star schools 

  • Students in K-8 at Purple Star schools wrote letters to active service members for the holidays

  • More Education headlines

Nelson Elementary School is in the first group of Purple Star schools in Florida and on Friday, students wrote letters to members of the Florida National Guard to show support and bring holiday cheer to our service members.

Students carefully crafted their letters and learned all about Florida’s National Guard. 

“They help our community, our state and sometimes they even get deployed, they get activated to go to another part of the country to help,” said second-grade teacher, Sheena Longstreth.

As a Purple Star school, many students here already know all about military life and the sacrifices service members make.

“It’s been kind of hard because he deploys and goes to different states, so sometimes I don’t get to spend the holidays with him,” said fifth-grader Christian Marshall.

His dad is in the Air Force, and in addition to the missed holidays, his family has also moved a lot.

“I’ve lived in Las Vegas, Washington, Arkansas, and Florida,” he said.

Nelson Elementary has a lot of military students like Christian, which is why the state’s Department of Education designated it as a Purple Star school.

Christian says he knows his dad would have appreciated letters like these when he was deployed, and he hopes that throughout the holidays, everyone keeps our service members in mind.

The students planned to finish their letters Friday. The school will send them to the Department of Education next week.