Student museum brings recognition, awareness to veterans' sacrifice

Every serviceman, whether a veteran or still in active duty, makes a sacrifice to serve the country. With Veterans Day drawing near, the eighth-grade U.S. History class of Placer County's Office of Education iLearn Academy hosted a Veterans Gallery Walk and Service Museum on Wednesday. Jaime Berry, a sixth- through eighth-grade teacher at iLearn Academy, said the goal of the assignment was for her students to find a relative, friend or someone in history who served in the armed forces and interview them about their stint or research their service if no longer living. "I have had a lot of personal experiences that have made me really appreciate our servicemen and women, and also family members and friends who have been affected by their time in the service," Berry said. "But when I teach U.S. History, it's really hard to convey the importance of them to the students, and I realized that most of these students have probably been touched by a vet and not even realized it." The museum consisted of displays of the history of the branches of the armed forces, a gallery walk of photos, veterans' military gear and medals and information from interviews the students conducted. Berry said the assignment helps to open the students' eyes as they launch into learning about the Revolutionary War. "I just really want students to know we're not studying a war and a number of casualties," Berry said. "We're studying men and women who were willing to put their lives on the line for the freedoms that they hold dear as a country." According to Berry, the thought of how to honor veterans had been "rattling around in my brain for a long time" when she came to a realization while serving jury duty. Berry said the presiding judge started the proceedings by reading the names of lost service members from Afghanistan, highlighting if those individuals could make the ultimate sacrifice for the country's freedom, then the potential jurors could serve a few days of jury duty. "I came back and told my students this is why our justice system is able to run, because we've got people who are willing to serve on things like that and so that was really what sparked my realization that we have to bring attention to people that are serving every day and we just don't realize it," she said. "Our judges, our police officers, our servicemen. I mean, the world spins and runs because of these men and women who are essentially stepping away from their families every day to serve our country, and I just hope that the students have a little bit more of a realization of that as we start to go through these lessons." Student Casie Brewer said the assignment gave her the opportunity to celebrate veterans - including her dad, who served in the Marine Corps for 12 years - in a new way, as well as allow her dad's service to be recognized and appreciated. "I've never done anything like this for Veterans Day," Casie said. "I usually just celebrate it with my dad and go out for dinner or something, but this is really special." Ryan Vandewark, a student, said the assignment allowed him to learn about the different branches of the military, as he was unaware of the duties of various branches like the Space Force and Coast Guard. Vandewark said the assignment also allowed him to gain a better understanding of his brother's duty in the Air Force and even sparked his own interest in the branch. "It feels good to know that he's helping our country … he loads the bombs onto air crafts and I researched into that a little, and it's pretty cool what he does," Ryan said. "It's good to know that my brother is helping our country in the Air Force." Berry said the assignment was a success and had a bigger impact than she anticipated, as other grades and members of the community wanted to participate in the museum assignment. "It had the result that I had hoped for because so many students were like, 'I didn't even know this person was in my family,' or they said things like, 'My dad was in the service and I never talked to him about it,' " she said. Berry said she was "pleasantly surprised" the assignment had such an impact on the students and people of the community, and hopes the community will honor veterans Saturday by attending the Auburn Veterans Day Parade in Downtown Auburn.