Sgt. Penney visits Copeland

The following story was printed in 3 different local newspapers here in Surry County.
DOBSON — In March of 2008, Tracie Whitaker’s first-grade class at Copeland Elementary School adopted a soldier for their class project. They started writing Sgt. Scott Penney of the United States Army, who has been serving in Afghanistan. Along with these letters and cards of encouragement the students collected items that Sgt. Penney needed. In a three month period Mrs. Whitaker’s class collected four huge boxes of items that were mailed to Sgt. Penney.

These students are now second graders and were gathered together in the Media Center for a big surprise. Mrs. Whitaker reminded them of their project that they worked on last year in her class. As the students started to remember Alex Beck stated “that’s when we wrote your Army friend.” Yes, everyone was remembering and their faces began to light up in anticipation of what was to come. They were informed that Sgt. Penney wanted to visit them so he could thank them in person for all their words of encouragement and the boxes that were sent to him in Afghanistan.

Upon Sgt. Penney’s arrival in the Media Center, the student’s eyes and mouth told all. They couldn’t believe that this was truly Sgt. Penney. He began by introducing himself and thanking the students for everything they had done. Sgt. Penney told the students a little about what he does to serve the United States Army.

After a few moments, the students began to ask great questions. Teresa Vazquez wanted to know what the schools were like in Afghanistan. John Rodriguez asked about how much walking they had to do and if there were any mountains. Most of the boys wanted to know about the guns and tanks. Alex Hege on the other hand wanted to know about the churches in Afghanistan. Sgt. Penney explained to them that they have a church service of their own and someone in his platoon leads the service. As the visit came to an end Mrs. Whitaker stated, “That his time there was heartwarming and gratifying.”

Just a few minutes with Sgt. Penney was a lifetime experience for these students and truly something they will never forget. Sgt. Penney will be returning to service on Dec. 23, and Mrs. Whitaker plans on picking her project back up with this year’s first graders.