Nebraska principal helps heal broken Iraqi schools
November 10, 2003
Sgt. 1st Class Michael Hart helps a couple of Mosul youths use a coloring book, markers, and other school supplies donated by the families of the 41st RAOC.
PFC Thomas Day
The assistant principal of a junior high school in Norfolk, Neb., left hundreds of students behind when he deployed to Iraq last winter with the 41st Rear Area Operations Center.
Since then, Sgt. 1st Class Michael Hart of the Nebraska National Guard has overseen a number of school projects in Northern Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division.
"It's a lifestyle. Everywhere I go I try to be around kids because I love what they're about," Hart said. "When I'm teaching, just to see a light bulb go off in a kid's head - 'Oh, I got it' - that makes my day...That's why I do what I do back home. It's not just for the money.
The 41st RAOC has been tasked for the last several months with contracting local construction companies to rebuild schools ruined by years of neglect by Saddam Hussein's regime. Their families back in Nebraska have also gotten involved, donating notebooks, pens, pencils, markers, and other school supplies.
"Education is the cornerstone to any community, " Hart said. "If you have an educated public, if you have people who can think for themselves, you're going to be okay."
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