New York elementary school kids will be getting a big surprise to find out a class project they started ended up in front of the U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.
During his visit to the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia March 11, Senior Airman Jenifer Calhoun, wing photographer, took "Flat Joe" with her to shake Mr. Gates' hand.
Calhoun is helping facilitate the project. She's had Flat Joe for several weeks. He came to her from another deployed Air Force photographer serving in Iraq, Senior Master Sgt. Elizabeth Gilbert. The idea of the project is for the class to send the paper cutout to someone who doesn't live nearby and have them document their daily activities with the Flat Joe through photographs, then send the photos back to the students to help educate them on new things.
The photos of Flat Joe's adventures at the 380th AEW include a combat mission aboard an E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control Systems aircraft as well as his official Air Force photo in front of the U.S. flag. The photos will be mailed back to Ms. Conlon's Plank North Road Elementary class in Webster, New York shortly. Although, Joe will not be going with them. He's continuing on to meet up with another Air Force photographer in Africa.
According to Wikipedia, Flat Joe is a takeoff of the Flat Stanley Project that was started in 1995 by Dale Hubert, a third grade schoolteacher in London. It is meant to facilitate letter-writing by schoolchildren to each other as they document where Flat Stanley has gone with them.