Stratford High School students placed 1,500 ceramic poppies outside Stratford Town Hall Thursday in honor of fallen service members ahead of Memorial Day.

Stratford High School art teacher Sarah Voccola says it's an idea she and her fellow art teachers came up with more than a year ago.

The teachers say they saw a similar display of 9,000 ceramic poppies in London and wanted to re-create the display locally.

"The poppy has kind of come to be a symbol of rebirth and life after war," Voccola says.

Voccola says it's a project that started with a 3D printer and some clay.

From students to Boy and Girl Scouts to seniors at the Baldwin Center, dozens of community members came together to create the poppies.

Stratford High School students placed the poppies on the Town Hall Green Thursday.

Around 151 of the 1,500 pieces bear a number representing the 151 service members from Stratford who died in the line of duty.

"It symbolizes that we are all people and they were people and we should respect them as people, not just soldiers," Stratford High School student Lintsay Tejada said.