Committed to Removing Access Barriers
Here at the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, we define commitment as devoting time, energy, or resources to causes in which we believe and patriotism as devoting our loyalty and love to our country, including working to make it better. What does commitment to the betterment of our community look like?
We believe education is a community effort, and our community extends far beyond the borders of Hamilton County, Tennessee. While we are situated here in Chattanooga—the “Birthplace of the Medal of Honor”—our Teacher Fellowship Program includes educators from three states this year, and students across five states traveled to explored our galleries with our education team during the 2023-2024 school year. Thanks to the generous support of Dr. June Scobee Rodgers, we launched our first nation-wide Design Challenge this past spring, affording students across the nation a competitive career-based project. This summer we hosted several teacher workshops aimed at exposing more educators to the stories of Medal of Honor and Space Medal of Honor Recipients.
Simply put, we’re committed to supporting both teachers and students on their educational and life journeys with a passion akin to that of Medal of Honor Recipient Alvin York’s.
Though raised in differing settings—one rural and one urban—World War I MOH Recipients Alvin York and Henry Johnson both acquired little formal education during childhood. Their lack of opportunities informed their later advocacy efforts, and the realities both rural and urban schools face today are informing ours.
We recognize access barriers to our site in the form of transportation costs, entry fees, etc. exist for school groups in both rural and urban settings. This is why—thanks to the financial resources provided by the Fields and Bell families—our Teacher Fellows have worked to create lessons aligned with state standards that weave Medal of Honor Recipient stories through various activities. These lessons will soon be housed on our website and freely accessible.
While lesson plans help increase access, students still miss out on learning experiences in the real-world setting. Boston University’s Center for Teaching and Learning describes experiential learning as learning that “fosters deeper understanding, skill development, and personal growth through active engagement in real-world experiences.” Over the past year, we’ve poured our energies into developing inquiry-based experiences for students visiting our Center. With your help, we can ensure students who would otherwise not have access to our on-site programming are provided an opportunity to connect with history in a unique way.
Our Goal
Our goal with this initiative is to raise $10,000 by December 31st to fund field trip experiences for students to our Center from FIVE rural and FIVE urban schools.
Did you know 40 counties across Tennessee are identified as economically “At-Risk” or “Distressed”? Several of these counties border Hamilton County. (View the map here.) In 2022, the Tennessee Department of Education released a list of “High-Poverty Schools” across the state which included both rural and urban schools within and around Hamilton County. Experiences are often limited when funding is an issue.
Like Medal of Honor Recipient Alvin York, we recognize the value in education and connecting students to educational opportunities. We hope you’ll join us in the trenches as we work to remove access barriers for both rural and urban schools in surrounding areas.
