MIAMI \u2014 An eighth grader is spending her after-school hours not with friends, but at a cemetery, cleaning veterans\u2019 graves and working to preserve their stories.<\/p>\n
Kassandra Seldin says she began noticing the condition of graves at Miami City Cemetery during her daily route to school.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day I go to school near here I pass by the cemetery and it is just so mistreated,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her project is part of her Girl Scout Silver Award, and over the past year she has worked to honor veterans buried there. With help from veterans and volunteers, Seldin identified and documented more than 1,700 graves at the cemetery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that it\u2019s so wrong that these veterans served our country and helped us gain our freedom. They should be respected,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt made me feel so happy that I could do something for someone else this special,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
She worked alongside veterans and volunteers, including Lex Kruger Dobrota, a veteran and founder of the app \u201cBadger,\u201d which helps document and map graves.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing the other buried headstones that are underneath, buried underneath the surface of the ground, leaves covered up, grass growing, it really showed that we need to give a name to these forgotten military heroes buried in the cemetery,\u201d Kruger Dobrota said.<\/p>\n
Along with researching and documenting, Seldin also helped clean and care for headstones with volunteers, wiping away dirt and restoring names.<\/p>\n
She also photographed each grave and recorded service information, building a digital map through the \u201cBadger\u201d app so families can more easily locate loved ones.<\/p>\n
After more than a year of work, Seldin says this chapter is coming to a close, but the veterans she worked to honor will not be forgotten.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n
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