12:00 AM - 12:00 AM
The project was an extraordinary success as students, in cooperation with faculty and national and local veterans' organizations, worked collaboratively to bring the Moving Wall to Ponaganset and serve as visitor guides. Students, parents and community leaders assisted visitors finding names, making rubbings, answering questions about the Vietnam Memorial and the experience. In the weeks prior to the Wall's arrival students conducted historical research, constructed the foundation and developed an extraordinary museum that focused on the Vietnam War. It boasted a large collection of uniforms, letters and artifacts along with 42 panels each exploring a specific episode of Ken Burn's film, The Vietnam War. The Moving Wall itself attracted thousands of residents, veterans and inquisitive visitors to the site.
What worked best is that students learned given they were truly engaged in the topic. This project met the two overarching objectives - 1) hosting the Moving Wall and 2) developing an archive of oral histories. The project provided students with an opportunity to explore, debate, discuss, examine, defend, and experiment with concepts and skills they are learning. This multidisciplinary project provided an extraordinary opportunity to deliver in-depth instruction, inspire young minds to become enthusiastic learners, and united the larger community in a single endeavor. One fascinating task that resulted from the project was breaking students into small groups to write, produce and record the radio commercials that aired between August 29th and November 4th, 2018. This resulted in not only creating a hallmark publicity campaign but afforded them the opportunity to work with professionals in the marketing, sales and radio industry. The materials and manufacturing class designed and fabricated an large steel cauldron with the POW / MIA logo that was floated in the pond adjacent to the high school - the "Flames of Freedom".