CONTACT: Jay Purdy (717) 787-7895

HARRISBURG, June 6 - It's 60 miles from Pequea Elementary School in Lancaster County to the battlefield at Gettysburg where 147 monuments stand in honor of the Pennsylvanians who helped turn back the Confederate invasion of the North and saved the Union.

Hearing of the campaign by state Rep. Harry Readshaw, D-Allegheny, to restore and preserve the Pennsylvania monuments, Pequea Valley fifth-grade student Andrea Valentin decided to enlist in the crusade.

With the help of her mother, Joan, Valentin assembled an activity booklet that marches the 60 miles from the school to Gettysburg. The booklet divides the trek into 10-mile sections. By completing suggested activities and answering related questions, a student could march one of the segments to the battlefield.

Activities include seeing the play, The Civil War, at a nearby dinner theatre; reading a book about the Civil War and listening to music from the era.

For each completed segment of the march, a student could receive pledge money from family and friends.

Valentin's project earned $127.50, an amount doubled to $255 by an  anonymous donor, toward the perpetual endowment trust for the monument at the site where Union Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock was badly wounded during the repulse of Pickett's Charge.

Hancock, greatly respected by his men and the officer corps, was dubbed "Hancock the Superb" for his exploits at Gettysburg and other battles. He later was a candidate for president, but lost to James Garfield.

"Andrea is an example why it is so important that we preserve the monuments at Gettysburg," said Readshaw. "Her understanding of their legacy; that on a specific spot, Americans from Pennsylvania stood their ground, and, in many cases, sacrificed their lives for a just cause and preserved their nation for the future. Andrea is part of the future they were fighting for. By helping save the monuments, she herself becomes a component of their living legacy."