KIRKUK – U.S. and Iraqi Soldiers recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Kuna Riwi primary school here, which will provide quality education to more than 100 needy children in and around this city.

Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 37th Armor, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, out of Fort Bliss, Texas, joined their partners with 3rd Battalion, 47th Iraqi Army Brigade, for the celebration.

The project, funded by the Commander's Emergency Response Program,  began in November, according to 1st Lt. Zachery Brown, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and fire effects officer with 1/37th AR.

Citizens around Kuna Riwi and IA Soldiers also played a critical role in the building of this school, as they made the plans, picked the contractors, ensured the paperwork went to the right people and just took the initiative to make sure this project happened, Brown said.

“Because they put so much work into this school, we know they will take pride in it and protect it,” said Lt. Col. Geoffery Catlett, commander of 1/37th AR.

Catlett and leadership of Kuna Riwi began the ceremony with a ribbon cutting and speeches in front of the school.

Following the speeches, the children of the school received backpacks full of school supplies, as guests and teachers toured the new school.

During the tour, the English teacher at the school, Noor, who prefers to go by her first name, spoke of the differences between the old and new school.

"Just a month ago I was teaching 120 children in a single room school made of mud, now, thanks to the [Iraqi] Army and U.S. forces, our children have a school to make their education level grow," she said.