WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Jay Rockefeller today announced the 4th year of West Virginia’s Take a Veteran to School Day program, which was created to link veterans and students in schools throughout the state and capture and preserve veterans’ real-life experiences.
“During the past four years, the Take a Veteran to School Day program has become a success and made a great impact on the lives of the students who meet these heroes,” said Rockefeller. “This program is an important way people can pay their respects to the veterans who serve our nation. Veterans have always had my unwavering support, both on and off the front lines, and I believe they’ve earned the right to be heard and have their stories preserved for generations to come.”
Take a Veteran to School Day events are taking place at 14 schools across the state from November 7-10 in connection with Veterans Day. Participating in this year’s program are the following high schools: Berkeley Springs, Brooke, East Fairmont, Elkins, Jefferson, Lewis County, Lincoln County, Morgantown, Musselman, Parkersburg, Petersburg, Robert C. Byrd, Weir and Wheeling Park. In addition, a similar event will also be held at the Boys & Girls Club in Huntington to expand the program beyond the high schools.
Inspired by the Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, high school students and students from West Virginia University’s School of Journalism and Concord University interview West Virginia veterans and record their oral histories. Those histories will then be submitted and archived in the Library’s collections.
“I speak for the entire West Virginia Cable Telecommunications Association (WVCTA) when I say that we are proud to work with Senator Rockefeller and West Virginia’s American heroes—our veterans. The students and faculty of the high schools and Boys & Girls Club participating in the Take a Veteran to School Day program will celebrate and honor the service of these men and women as they explain each war from World War II to the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts from their points-of-view,” said Michael Kelemen, WVCTA President and Suddenlink Communications’ Director of Government Relations.
Out of more than 170,000 West Virginia veterans, fewer than 600 have had their stories archived in the Library of Congress. Through West Virginia’s Take a Veteran to School Day program, more than 30 could be added to the archives this year alone.
The Take a Veteran to School Day program is supported by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, as well as the West Virginia Legislature that passed resolutions in 2009 encouraging West Virginia educators to participate in future Take a Veteran to School Day initiatives. The program’s return to West Virginia schools is made possible by the West Virginia Cable Telecommunications Association and its member companies, Suddenlink Communications, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Shentel and Armstrong, and the HISTORYchannel who created the national initiative.
To learn more about West Virginia’s Take a Veteran to School Day program and to view photos from events, visit http://www.veteransinwv.com/