Convincing dozens of teenagers to hang out with octogenarians
was easy for Darren Yafai, history teacher at Gilroy High School.
Now comes the hard part: raising about $8,000 so that some of those
teenagers can travel to Washington, D.C. and share their experience
with a national audience.
Convincing dozens of teenagers to hang out with octogenarians was easy for Darren Yafai, history teacher at Gilroy High School. Now comes the hard part: raising about $8,000 so that some of those teenagers can travel to Washington, D.C. and share their experience with a national audience.
Last Memorial Day, Yafai’s sophomore classes showcased 26 Stories of Service videos at Gilroy’s City Hall, profiling 26 local members of the “Greatest Generation” – men and women who fought for their country during World War II. This Memorial Day, nine of his students have been invited to D.C. for an educational trip that will culminate with them marching on the Washington Mall in the Capitol’s Memorial Day parade. Their veterans will join them in spirit, and in the photos the students will carry with them.
The only thing holding them back is funding to finance the trip.
“Last year, we celebrated Memorial Day by showing the movies at City Hall,” Yafai said. “I’m the most excited right now because of the opportunity for my students to experience some recognition and adventure.”
Yafai’s unprecedented project was the single biggest endeavor any organization had taken on since Stories of Service was created. A program of the Digital Clubhouse Network, a national nonprofit that mobilizes young people to produce digital stories about those who served, Stories of Service recognized Yafai and GHS as the teacher and school of the year. To share their experience, the nine students who make up the Gilroy Community History Club produced a documentary chronicling the making of their Stories of Service videos. The documentary will be used to instruct other teachers on how to build Stories of Service into their own curriculums, Yafai said.
Yafai is about to launch the program in its second year at GHS and is looking for new veterans to profile. Though he’s hoping to find more WWII veterans, he said he may have to expand the project to Korean and Vietnam War veterans.
To make a donation or volunteer as a WWII veteran, call Darren Yafai at 857-6752 or e-mail him at da**********@*********ca.us
Click on a date below to view a student-made movie about that veteran.
photo gallery of students talking with the veterans and making their films and a
