Harding Elementary class gets a visit from its special soldier

YOUNGSTOWN — If the kids in Carol Rappach’s fourth grade Harding Elementary class have any say, March will become camel spider month.

Camel spiders peaked the students’ interest following a visit from Pvt. Adam Brooks of McDonald, who recently returned from six months in Iraq.

November was gratitude month for the class — and it was those lessons that brought Brooks to the classroom this week.

The curious students fired questions at Brooks, who is on leave for two weeks, about his time abroad and being in the Army. Brooks will return to Fort Hood in Texas after his stay at home.

A question that came up more than once? “What kind of animals are over there?”

“Camel spiders; these spiders get this big,” said Brooks — making his hands form the size of a dinner plate to show the size.

“Whoa,” was the response from the students.

“They’ll take down a camel and they are bigger than your foot,” Brooks said.

“That’s something we’ll have to research,” Rappach said.

Read more in Wednesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com