Every year, Northwestern Lehigh Middle School is invited to participate in the Holiday Festival of Trees at the Lehigh Valley International Airport, along with many other schools.

This year, as the students had spent some time studying and discussing Veterans Day, they decided to honor members of America's military by decorating the tree assigned to them and calling it "Operation Gratitude."

Our eighth grade Visionaries students wrote letters of thanks on patriotic paper and included a candy cane.

Our goal was for the military passing through the airport during the holidays to stop and take a letter and a candy cane We were hoping to provide them with some sense of gratitude for all they do.

The tree was also decorated with our students pix holding signs of thanks in patriotic shirts.

The tree was topped with a flag and instructions for military personnel to take a letter and candy cane."

The response we received from the airport authorities has been overwhelming.

They said many have stopped by the tree and feel this was a terrific way to honor our military.

Visionary staff include Coordinator Wendy Madouse, an eighth grade mathematics teacher, and teachers Beth Harwick, Justin Arifaj, Regi Mohr and Gina Woods.