Student News Net and Survivor Quest have announced that they will collaborate in order to educate “every student in America” through multimedia about the First World War as the Centennial of the conflict approaches.
Survivor Quest is a not-for-profit organisation which creates educational exhibitions and documentaries, highlighting “the sacrifice of American Veterans” and their role in world history.
Student News Net is a current events website aimed at primary and secondary school aged students across the United States.
Together, the organisations plan to “touch every student in America through multimedia”, by developing online resources designed to educate American students about the First World War.
In a joint statement, the organisations said that they would launch a “World War I digital learning platform”.
“A major focus of the educational partnership is to bring history alive for students via archived video interviews with WWI veterans and digital content developed to foster the ability of students to critically analyse the war’s causes and global ramifications”.
“50 state saturation”
Both organisations have “worked for years giving voice to veterans and the story of World War I”. In 2006, Survivor Quest’s founder, David DeJonge, began documenting the last survivors of the First World War, including American veteran Frank Buckles and Briton Harry Patch.
These video interviews with veterans, along with photographs and audio accounts are described as “one-of-a-kind” and “historical treasures”, and will be integrated into the digital learning platform.
The partners already have a reach of 100,000 students in “multiple states”, which they hope to increase to 500,000 in two years.
Their aim is to have a “50 state saturation” – by reaching America’s 49 million K-12 students (primary and secondary school aged children) – from 2014-2019.
Survivor Quest’s founder, Mr. DeJonge, said that he “could not be more thrilled” in announcing the new educational digital platform, and in “continuing our commitment to recalling and honouring the heroes from World War One”.
Mr. DeJonge continued that the initiative was “America’s first proactive step into the Centennial that will yield tangible results”.
Source: Survivor Quest & Student News Net press release
Date of press release publication: 11/11/2013
Images courtesy of Survivor Quest
Posted by: Daniel Barry, Centenary News