This spider doesn’t bite. Instead, it raises money.

A little desk statue with a spider as the base, fashioned by a dozen Barren County High School students, will be sold to raise scholarship money for students to attend the private Gonzaga College High School in the District of Columbia.

The students made the 6-inch-high, wooden-and-steel item to sell May 1 in the silent auction for the Erik Kristensen Foundation at Andrews Air Force Base. Jaime McMillan, an English teacher at BCHS, will accompany the item to Andrews, work as a volunteer for a golf tournament fundraiser and attend the auction.

McMillan has used the book “Lone Survivor” in her teaching for three years. It’s the story of several U.S. Navy SEAL teams that fought the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2005 under Operation Red Wings. One of those teams included Kristensen, who was aboard a MH-47 Chinook helicopter attempting to rescue four SEALs on the ground. 

In the fighting, three of four SEALs on the ground were killed, and the helicopter carrying 16 Army and Navy soldiers was shot down.

According to a summary of the battle, the SEALs were conducting reconnaissance and were caught in a fierce fight when local nationals spotted them.

The four SEALS faced 50 Taliban, fighting for hours despite being wounded. Three of the SEALs died. The author of “Lone Survivor,” the surviving SEAL on the ground, hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Marcus Luttrell, was “blasted over a ridge by a rocket-propelled grenade and was knocked unconscious,” according to the battle synopsis.

“Kids need to learn about real-life heroes,” McMillan said. 

Jake Holman, a junior at BCHS, said he was proud to work on a project that honors the legacy of a Navy SEAL. Holman read the book and worked on the statue, using a computerized numerical control machine. “Spider” was Kristensen’s nickname, hence the spider figure on the statue.

McMillan said the book about the battle, which took place in the vicinity of Asadabad, Afghanistan, in the Kumar Province, teaches students perseverance and military history. “Lone Survivor” recently was made into a movie. 

“It helps kids to believe in themselves,” McMillan said.

Word of what McMillan was doing at BCHS came to the attention of the foundation. The local effort overjoys a man who attended Gonzaga College High School with Kristensen and graduated with him in 1990.

“I see Erik’s spirit, his soul, his gentle yet fierce, giving spirit,” said Bill Rodriguez in an email to the Daily News. “I see ‘It’ in a truly living and tangible sense through the selfless, thoughtful gift made for the 2014 Eye Street Klassic (golf tournament) by Jaime’s students at Barren County High School.”

— Follow education reporter Chuck Mason on Twitter at twitter.com/bgdnschools or visit bgdailynews.com.