''We had just finished lessons on American history and slavery,'' Mrs. Vogel said. ''I saw this article and wanted to share it with the students. I have been teaching for 25 years and saw the shuttle blow up with my students watching, and we have talked about the Oklahoma City bombing, but I have never seen children touched like this. I saw boys and girls crying, and they said, 'We thought slavery was over,' and I said, 'So did I.' ''

Mrs. Vogel, who sat in front of a wall decorated with handmade paper dolls that represented each slave freed, fought back her own tears as she said, ''They asked me, 'What are we going to do about this?' ''

What they did was create STOP: Slavery That Oppresses People, an awareness campaign they have now incorporated into many of their daily studies. Lessons revolve around the fund-raising campaign. Maps for geography lessons carry sticky notes with frowning faces on the countries that still practice slavery, letters to politicians and celebrities are exercises in penmanship, grammar and spelling, and the money they raise is divided and multiplied in math lessons.

Leshai Renfrow, 9, worked on her penmanship and spelling as she wrote a letter to the Rev. Jesse Jackson about the project. ''Some people would think it's not going on, it's way passed by, but it's not,'' she said. ''Modern slavery is still going on.''

Mrs. Vogel describes the student body as ''children without many means,'' but she wanted to show them what a good citizen can do. ''Citizenship and humanitarianism should be taught along with everything else,'' she said.