When Stone Hill Elementary fourth grader Jaden Rosi was considering what sort of diorama to make for his class assignment, he decided to make one that depicted a charity that he and his family donate to each year: Toys for Tots.

"I told my dad and we worked on it and I put all the little toys in it," Rosi said.

He brought the diorama to school, never thinking it would spark the interest of his teacher, Laurie Tedeschi, and the rest of his classmates.

"We don't have a sixth grade student council this year, so our class decided to take on a Toys for Tots project," said Gabriella Longo. "We collected toys from the whole school and the Marines came and picked them up."

Tedeschi was pleased with the response of her students and the school community.

"I just put it out there as an option and everyone jumped on the bandwagon," she said.

According to Nicole Perreault, their class collected the toys for about a week and a half.

"Two people went to each classroom collecting the toys," said Victoria Mantia.

Rosi and his classmates estimate that they collected at least 150 toys from their school collection, surprising even the Marine who came to do the collection last week.

"He said that next time he'd have to bring a bigger vehicle," said Principal Norma Cole.

The students got a thrill out of meeting a soldier and even got a chance to hold his hat.

"It was fun meeting a real Marine," said Jake Cuddemi.

Michael Abatecola explained that their entire class brought in toys, such as the book about scientific facts and experiments that he purchased as his donation.

As the pile of toys began to grow, so did the students' sense of excitement and pride. The project made them and their families feel good during the holiday season.

"Seeing the toys in the room and knowing that they were going to good use made me feel happy," said Lisa Egan.

Her classmates all agreed.

"I found that giving to needy children made me feel very good," said Alexander Gray.

"We were very proud collecting toys and helping the kids that needed them," added Nicholas Izzi.

Classmate Allyiah Gomes said it sparked a conversation about charitable giving in her own family.

"Our parents thought it was good that we were helping out needy children," she said.

Ella Abbenante noted that although Rosi and their class were the ones who came up with the initial idea, it was the efforts of the whole community that made the project a success.

"Without the help of all the students we could not have done it all," she said.