The Interactive Veterans Museum is based on the idea that students in K-12 schools can interact personally with actual veterans from different branches of service, who served during different eras of peace and/or conflicts, and different jobs in the military.
Most students today do not really know the diversity of actual jobs and service careers that are available, or where in the United States or the world our military serve. The Interactive Veterans Museum is a simple concept where veterans are recruited from the local community to participate. This means that the veterans the students will interact with are the parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles of these students, which makes the overall experience even more personal for both the students and veterans. Each veteran has a table or space where they can display their photos, awards, uniforms, and other items that they have collected during their service.
When students come in to tour the “museum,” they see the items and their natural curiosity creates questions and they become genuinely engaged with the veterans. Veterans are not required to bring anything. Some that have participated did not have any personal mementos to display; however, they too found that they could engage students about their experience. The Interactive Veterans Museum allows students to gain a greater understanding of what the military and more specifically veterans have and do experience. For the veterans, what better honor is there then when you have passed down the knowledge of what we are, what we stand for, and how we serve our country?
Every veteran who has participated in the Interactive Veterans Museum comes away from the experience exhilarated because they have had another chance to serve but this time in a way that preserves not only their legacy but also that of all other veterans before and after them.