Mrs. Morrison created the Poquoson Veterans Project to give her 11th grade AP U.S. History students at Poquoson High School a co-curricular opportunity to recognize local veterans for their service and be more involved in their community.

Mrs. Morrison's students will be paired with a local veteran volunteer to "adopt" for the entire school year. The students record their veterans’ military history and write a biography of their veteran's military service through conducting interviews at an initial luncheon. Veterans are also asked to participate in various events throughout the year with their students, such as the coin toss at football games, first pitch at baseball games, Poquoson High Homecoming parade, Wreaths Across America, etc. In the spring, veterans and students also take a field trip to Washington, D.C. to the memorials to the wars in which their veterans served and then spend the rest of the day at the Museum of American History together.

Poquoson's project has received national attention, won the National Community Service Award from the Friends of the WWII Memorial, and received speakers as part of a Department of Defense grant. Their project has also received grants from Dominion Energy and Newport News Shipbuilding. Some of our students and veterans, who were paired in the first year of the Poquoson project in 2017, have maintained close friendships since. This project has helped our students develop their skills of leadership and civic engagement that extend far beyond the conclusion of the project.