It makes it much more relevant in their learning. They need to understand it in order to move forward and that's what history does
- Kristin Jacobs
An interactive memorial at Kurri Kurri High School will act as a daily reminder of the sacrifice and bravery of the women and men who served in the world wars.
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For the last six months, the Year 9 cohort have been busy designing, writing, painting and planting the huge memorial.
On Monday, the students unveiled the moving memorial surrounded by serving and former defense personnel, politicians, community members and their peers.
Year 9 student Katie Sears said the project was an engaging way to learn about an important chapter in Australian history.
"We had about four or five different groups - ceremony, jewellery, technology. They were all groups who developed this amazing project, and we are just so proud of it," Katie said.
"It was really interesting for us."
The finished memorial will have an interactive mural, a commemorative garden and seating for an outdoor learning space for current and future students of Kurri Kurri High School.
"The opportunity to work on a project that allowed me to use my skills and get hands on with the project was definitely a positive way to learn about a serious part of our history," student Riley Dembeck said.
It took 150 students more than six months to complete the project, which even has QR codes embedded on it to take the viewer to stories written by the students about World War I and World War II.
Teacher Kristin Jacobs said the ambitious project stemmed from a class assessment task to write a war story based on the conflicts.
"We are amazed," Ms Jacobs said.
"The students have been so engaged. Our role was mainlly just to support them and guide them.
"We've been funded by the War Memorial Grant but we've also had donations from Bunnings, Beautiful Blooms Kurri and Brian McGuigan OAM.
"It makes it much more relevant in their learning. They need to understand it in order to move forward and that's what history does.
"Eventually, we will use it as an outdoor learning area."