Stephanie Pierce has gotten through.

Nikki and Olivia at 'Read Across America'

Pupils read, sing to troops in Iraq through the Internet
By DAN IRWIN
New Castle News

Officially, it was called “Read Across America.”

But Stacy Henry’s first-graders at Thaddeus Stevens Primary Center went one better. They read across the globe.

Gathering in the multi-purpose room of their East Side school, the class read “I Can Read with My Eyes Shut” by Dr. Seuss — Sunday, after all, was the author’s birthday — to a group of servicemen and women stationed at Balad Air Base in Iraq.

Also in the audience, which was able to see and hear the students over an Internet hookup, was Army Spc. Stephanie Pierce, who has been deployed since May to Qayyarah Airfield West in northern Iraq. Pierce’s daughter, 7-year-old Nicolette, is a member of Henry’s class.

The event was Henry’s idea, spawned last Thursday when she decided to combine the National Education Association’s “Read Across America” day with a salute to U.S. troops in general, and to Nicolette’s mom in particular.

“As a military family,” said Henry, whose husband, Todd, is a Army Reserve specialist based out of Kittanning, “I went to the USO and they were able to get us all connected.

“As a mom, if he (Todd) is ever deployed, I would want my children to be able to do something like this.”

Henry tried various avenues to set up the connection before finally sealing the deal with Bob Baumann, president and CEO of the USO of Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey.

“I have a lot of contacts in Iraq,” Baumann said, “so we were able to put this whole thing together for her. (Pennsylvania has) one of the top four groups of National Guard deployed. They are our citizen soldiers; they didn’t sign up to be soldiers their entire life, nor did their children.

“In regular military service, the kids know what comes with that, and they learn to live with it. With the citizen soldiers, it’s a whole different world. So it’s the responsibility of the USO and Pennsylvanians to provide whatever we can to help the soldiers and their families have some normalcy in their lives.”

On hand for the event, in addition to the entire Thaddeus Stevens student body, were Nicolette’s father, James; her grandmother, Rhonda Deck; and her sisters, Ava, 2, and Olivia, 3. Another military family — Roberto and Maria Santiago — also were present. Roberto, a reservist, and Maria, who served 10 years in the Army, have a son, Roberto, in Henry’s class.

As for James and Stephanie Pierce, they are New Castle natives who lived in Georgia about five years while Stephanie was stationed at Fort Stewart. When she left for Iraq in May for a 15-month deployment, James and his daughters returned to New Castle to be closer to family.

James said he can talk to his wife by phone, but they keep in touch predominantly by Internet, through laptops and Web cams. He works as a self-employed tattoo artist, so he is able to be home with his daughters. His mother, Rhonda Deck, also helps out.

“It’s not as bad for us as it is for some,” he said. “Some of the infantry guys, they go three months without a room. She has a room to sleep in and an office.

“Not that it’s easy for her by any means. It’s horrible for her that she has to be there. She’s missing birthdays and holidays, and things like that. (Ava) will be a monster by the time she sees her again. She wasn’t even walking when she left, now she’s running and jumping all around. That sort of thing gets to you after a while.”

As the students file in, a movie screen shows pictures of the Thaddeus Stevens multi-purpose room in one corner, and soldiers gathered in Balad in the other. The Balad visual is lost just as the program begins, but Baumann gets on his phone and confirms that Iraq is still seeing and hearing the students.

Henry’s class — clad in red, white and blue vests with stars, stripes and “USA” on the front — is already in and seated, directly in front of a Web cam. Others file in to take seats on the floor behind them, but before they do, they enthusiastically belt out “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

Once they’re in, Baumann asks for – and gets — a deafening “Hello, Balad, Iraq!” shouted in unison.

Henry’s class then reads aloud, and the story time is followed by the entire school singing Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” When the music ends, applause and whistles from halfway around the world quickly fill the void.

Asked by Principal Debbie DeBlasio how they liked the children’s presentation, one soldier is heard to yell “It was great! I’m from Pennsylvania,” while the rest again break into loud applause.

The kids close with “God Bless America,” then shout “thank you” to their cyber-audience.

With that, Baumann takes the stage to present Nicolette with a camouflage-clad Beanie Baby bear for her and her sisters. He begins to tell about the USO, when suddenly, the speakers erupt again.

The words “Hello, Nicolette!” resound through a room instantly stunned into silence. “I love you!”

Stephanie Pierce has gotten through.

Nicolette and Olivia — Ava has fallen asleep in her grandmother’s arms — are shepherded in front of the Web cam to tell their mother hello and that they love her, too. Though not another word is heard back from Iraq, Baumann is on the phone again, and confirms that Stephanie has heard her daughters, as well as the entire program.

“I didn’t think she’d make it,” said Nicolette, who also is concerned that her Beanie Baby says “For ages 3 and up” and Ava is only 2. “When I heard her, it made me happy.”

As the students file out to return to their classrooms, Baumann learns that Nicolette isn’t the only one to be touched by the day’s events.

“They saw and heard every word of it,” she said of the military audience in Iraq, “and I was told that when those kids were singing, there were a lot of soldiers over there with tears in their eyes.”