Like most people in the United States, Dave Erving, a teacher at Hermosa Valley School, vividly remembers the days and weeks following last Sept. 11. He recalls it as a time when his students braved a myriad of reactions to the tragedy ranging from sorrow and anger to shock to bewilderment.

In the weeks and months following Sept. 11, many Americans displayed the flag as a symbol of their patriotism. Flags were suddenly everywhere.

Erving, who is Hermosa Valley’s art teacher, used the image of the American flag for a project created by his students. This flag, completed in recent months, now hangs as a permanent exhibit in The New York City Fire Museum located in Manhattan’s SoHo Village.

“It is just amazing to know that our feelings of love and peace became this huge flag,” said Michelle Akeley, one of Erving’s students. “We just wanted the victims to know that we supported them and we wanted to them to feel better.”

As a way of acknowledging the overwhelming support of schools and cities in California and along the West Coast, several New York City firefighters in the coming weeks hope to visit numerous campuses around the state, including Hermosa Valley, to show their appreciation.

“It’s pretty cool that it went all the way to New York,” said eighth-grader Amanda Armer. “I didn’t know if it would make it there. Now that it’s there, after all of our hard work, I hope it gives hope to people in pain.”

Last November, Erving presented the idea of making the 8-foot by 14-foot American flag to his seventh- and eighth-grade art students, who eagerly agreed to such an undertaking.

“On that day (Sept. 11), it was particularly hard to come into work and I know it was hard for the kids to come into school,” said Erving. “In being an art teacher, my work gives me the capability to put projects like this together and I think it was a healing process not only for me but for my students. I think we were able to take all of our feelings and turn it into something positive.”

The project, which took nine weeks to complete, is a collage of more than 200 illustrations synonymous with love, hope, peace and unity drawn in the colors of red, white, blue and gold. Erving scanned the large mosaic of personalized pictures onto a computer and printed them onto iron transfer paper. Erving then pressed the colorful images, constituting the stars and stripes, onto the cloth.

“We put a lot of time into making it,” said eighth-grader Chris Brown. “We just wanted the people in New York to feel better and to know that other people in the U.S. were grieving just like them.”

Thanks to Hermosa Valley parent Marla Clemens, who delivered the flag to the New York City Fire Museum, a piece of Hermosa Valley School now occupies its own display space on the building’s third floor at 278 Spring St.

“Evidently, the people working at the museum were so impressed with it that they decided to hang it up as a permanent fixture,” said Erving.

Originally, Erving hoped to send the flag to one of New York’s fire departments. From there, he hoped it would travel to several other fire departments across the nation with the possibility of ending up on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier stationed in the Middle East.

“We had a change of plans when we knew it was going to be put in the museum,” said Erving. “I think this way it is special for all of our students who can go back to New York and see it there on the wall. In a way, I think we are reaching more people this way. I am extremely proud not only as a teacher but just as a person because my voice and the voice of 60 students can now be heard in this museum. It’s a real honor.”