Internship in Public History: Veterans History Project UCF 2022

This past week on the veterans history project has been super busy. not only did I have my internship showcase last Friday, but I also was away in DC for a whole weekend at a leadership conference.  I was able to show photos from the storyboard that I had begun working on and I'm going to continue working on. I'm super happy with how it's turning out, and I'm glad I'm finally able to use the skills I've been learning all semester!  This past year with the Veteran's history Project has taught me so much. I cannot express how amazing these past weeks have grown and instilled so much in me as an interviewer and as a person. Oral History is truly a special subject that is essential to not only the preservation of our history, but the expanse and growth of ourselves as individuals. I'll be going into my masters in the Fall with the hope of continuing my time with the project.   Thank you to everyone who supported me this semester in reading my posts and askin...

 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, wh...

 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...