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To Jose Bernal, the Valentine’s Day card he created for soldiers serving overseas holds a special meaning.

An eighth-grader at Allen Middle School, Jose is Hispanic. Jose is one of about 100 students in teacher Rose Marie Rodriguez’s Spanish classes who put their Spanish instruction to use by creating Valentine’s Day cards for soldiers with Hispanic heritage. The cards contain a Spanish message, as well as a greeting in English.

“There’s so many more Hispanic Americans serving our country now, helping to make the U.S. and the world a better place to live,” Jose said. “I hope our cards show them we care and give them hope.”

Rodriguez came up with the idea to have each of her two sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade Spanish classes create Hispanic Valentines after seeing a Liberty Tax Service advertisement. She said the ad encouraged the public to bring Valentine’s Day cards to their offices to send to U.S. soldiers serving overseas.

“I think that it’s important that the Hispanic soldiers get them so they can be greeted in their home language, and this will remind them of their loved ones,” Rodriguez said. “I truly believe that the soldiers would love to get anything from students in the U.S., especially during Valentine’s Day, because it means love and caring and we’re thinking of them.”

Eighth-grader Brooklyn Hall, who speaks Spanish fluently, saw the project as a great way to show her patriotism and practice her Spanish.

“We want our soldiers to know they are loved and appreciated,” she said. “I like the feeling it gives me knowing I might make a difference in someone’s life.”

When Rodriguez delivered the cards to Liberty Tax Service, she stressed that the cards are mainly for soldiers of Hispanic heritage, though, since they also include a message in English, they could be sent to other soldiers, too. The cards include messages such as “We love you,” “We appreciate you” and “You’re doing a great job.”

“There are those with different heritages fighting for our country, but they’re still Americans, and we need to show them all that we care,” Rodriguez said.

This is not the first time Rodriguez’s classes have reached out to help others. At Thanksgiving, her classes collected canned goods for baskets to give to needy families.

“Projects like this are beneficial to the students, too, because they will show caring, respect and empathy for others, and since we have a character trait program in place in our school, students do understand that caring for others is essential in this world,” Rodriguez said.

A native of Cuba who made the U.S. her home in 1960, Rodriguez has lived in Miami and New York, where the Hispanic American population is large.

“I want my students to know there are many other Spanish Americans out there,” Rodriguez said. “There are 21 countries in the world that speak Spanish, and I want my kids to know that they can even make a career for themselves in Spanish.”

Contact Jennifer Atkins Brown at 574-5582 or jennifer.brown@news-record.com