Valley nonprofit connects students and veterans through storytelling
May 13
A Valley nonprofit is helping students connect with veterans by giving them the opportunity to share their stories in a unique way.
Imprints of Honor brings together high school students and military veterans to help record their personal stories. Veterans sit down with students to share their personal memories and help preserve military history.
Valley schools and educators can apply through May to open an Imprints of Honor chapter on campus for their students.
High school students learn about civics education, history, citizenship service and how to become leaders through interviewing veterans and documenting their military experiences.
“Our chapters tend to be led by English and history teachers who recognize the importance of collecting stories from our veterans while supporting the students in building life-long skills from speaking with veterans,” Imprints of Honor executive director Michelle DiMuro said in a press release. “We are thrilled to offer our annual outreach ahead of the upcoming school year to find educators who are interested in providing this experience to their students,” she said.
Participants become published authors since the stories are published in an annual book titled, “Since You Asked.” Every April, the students work together to plan a public community event and book signing.
Additionally, students who participate have the chance to apply for various scholarships offered through Imprints of Honor.
How did Imprints of Honor come about?
Barbara Hatch is the founder of Imprints of Honor and shared the impact of having veterans speak to high school students from a different generation.
“You never met this person, and after an hour it’s like your grandpa, it’s like your dad,” Hatch said in a website video.
In 1998, Hatch was a history teacher and one of her students randomly asked, ‘Is Saving Private Ryan real?’ Saving Private Ryan was a famous film directed by Steven Spielberg that was inspired by real-life stories of military families. Hatch got the idea to invite military veterans into her classroom to speak to her students.
She noticed how engaged her students were when the veterans came to speak to her class. It was the beginning of Imprints of Honor.
Hatch knows the positive impact the program has on both students and veterans who are willing to listen to one another.
Ronald Smith was a Vietnam veteran who participated in the program. “It was life-changing to be interviewed by a young person, who actually cared,” he said.
Barbara Ripa is a former student who participated in the program, she said it helped her fall in love with the military. It even inspired her to join the Marine Corps and serve the country.
“Hearing from the veterans directly themselves, instead of from a history book is extremely different because here you have someone telling it from the first perspective, it involves you a lot, it makes it real,” Ripa said.
Reporting by “Arizona Horizon” Education Solutions Reporter Roxanne De La Rosa. Her role is made possible through grant funding from the Arizona Local News Foundation’s Arizona Community Collaborative Fund and Report for America.
