Internship in Public History: Veterans History Project UCF 2022

 Week 14: A Successful Interview!      This week, I had the joy of finally sitting down with a Veteran for an interview. I seriously can't believe it's already been a whole semester already. This semester has been so difficult with multiple changing spheres within our team resulting in not many interviews taking place. I'm super thankful I was able to sit down with at least one interview. The Interview  This interview was amazing, as it was honestly a very rare interview to be a part of. Our subject was in the service for the entirety of Vietnam as a helicopter pilot serving in multiple battalions. Helicopter pilots in Vietnam are known to be dead men walking. Being able to sit down with a veteran who survived not only one, but two different crashes is truly amazing. Our veteran and subject enlisted in the military following his departure from school and spent the next 7 years in the  United States Army. There were two separate occasions, as I mentioned, where his helicopte

 Week 13: Storyboarding (again)  This week on the Veteran's history project I was forced to abandon my previous assignment with the World War II veteran. Due to communication issues and lack of follow up, the time sensitivity of my internship requires me to push forward and pursue other interviews and stories. A new veteran! Luckily, This past week we received a phone call from a Vietnam veteran who is looking to participate in an interview!  I have yet to receive a biodata sheet from our veteran, but I earnestly look forward to reading and fully preparing for his interview. I believe our veteran saw ground action in Vietnam, making his story so valuable to our records. This week I've been brushing up on my interview skills to best prepare for the coming interview, as I know it will contain lots of sensitive topics.  Storyboarding! I've decided to begin working on preparing a story map for this veteran, resulting in a good project I can undertake for the remainder of the se

 Week 12: Storyboarding & Interview preparation This week on the veterans history project was slower than most, but it was refreshing to say the least. Spring break definitely threw me a curveball. It was difficult to get back into routine, but I'm ready for whatever this project tackles us with. Storyboarding  I started working on previous storyboard projects again for upcoming interviews that I have with veterans. This week, I worked again on the World War II veteran that I'm still going to be interviewing. Once that interview is rescheduled, I'll have plenty to talk about in plenty to work on with the storyboards. It's been good to be able to practice and play with the mechanics of the storyboarding that is offered to us at UCF. I've played with it a bunch this week trying out maps and adding my own photos to it, but until I get the interview done there's not much I can do to work on this. I'm super excited for the weeks to come when I finally get to

 Week 11: Post Spring Break This week on the Veterans History Project I had a lot of time to dissect my spring break trip! As I mentioned before, this past week I was able to spend time in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina.  As I mentioned before, Mostar is a unusual place. After centuries of tumultuous history, including a civil war from 1992-1995, Mostar is a city that has experienced undocumented amounts of ethnic division and political strife. While I'm there, I was able to talk to locals to get a better understanding about their lifestyle and about the difficulties surrounding the area so that I may be able to have a better understanding of what we do here is so important. During my time in Mostar, I was able to meet somebody who told me all about the time that they spent during the Civil War that took place over 30 years ago. He was only 3 years old, but he says that it was traumatic enough that he remembers it even in his young age. He is a Bosnian and his family was captured

 Week 9: Uneventful, but anticipating! This week on the veterans history project was honestly a let down. As I mentioned last week, I had an exciting interview set up with a World War II veteran this past Monday. I woke up Monday morning to find out that it was canceled due to issues regarding the veteran. My whole idea was that I would be able to write a bunch this week on that interview, but due to its cancellation and rescheduling, that is not the case. Spring Break! Even so, I'll use this opportunity to talk about my spring break activities that I had planned and how they relate to the veterans history project. Next week, I have the honor and privilege of going on a mission trip to the country of ! I'll be located in Mostar for the whole duration and I'm honestly super excited for this trip. Aside from the main intent of my trip, I'll also be able to explore the historic area and interview locals regarding tomorrow they might have endured in the past decades. . Afte

 Week 8: Sickness Dwells This week on the Veteran's History Project was a slow and uneventful one. Between supervisors being out and sickness flowing from person to person, our team was checked out for the week. I myself have trouble reporting what activities came up for me this week. Between graduation, midterms, and other schoolwork, this week was jam packed for me. On top of all that, I've been fighting congestion and allergies all week now. What time I had this week was overtaken by schoolwork and the rest was spent in bed, resting. Next week I'll be interviewing our World War II veteran who will be 100 this fall. I'm spending this weekend resting and preparing questions for that interview. I'll be sure to write plenty on it next week to make up for the lack found this week.