Hi(Story) in Film and Literature, an English elective taught by Dr. Latham, has been a popular English choice for the last 5 years. Each year, students are encouraged to “adopt” a veteran, discover their story, and write a narrative as the final project for the term during the Vietnam unit. For the 2024-25 academic year, Dr. Latham and Mr. Rempe joined forces to create a project that would span both of their classes. In addition to the narrative, Latham’s students collaborated with Rempe’s Advanced Ceramics students to create a personalized memorial for their chosen veteran. Students were expected to attend each other’s classes to learn about the veteran and design a ceramic piece that would best commemorate their service and story.
Dr. Latham was impressed with the outcome of this collaboration. The various artworks created during this project were exhibited in the Arts Atrium before being presented to the veteran or the family of the veteran for whom they were created.
Juniors Zarah Cardona and Sara Nandwana collaborated to create a piece in honor of a veteran who was a Medal of Honor recipient and made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty while defending his country. As a ceramics student, Cardona enjoyed creating the piece in the pottery studio, but felt that a deeper understanding of the English unit would have fostered a more meaningful connection to the final piece. “Maybe if we read the book too, I could have connected more to the piece that I was making and have made it even better,” she commented. She also recommends that this unit be given more time for future classes so the narrator and the artist can have more “together time” and develop a closer partnership.
Nandwana shared letters with Cardona that the veteran had received from a family member. The Medal of Honor, along with the heartfelt words written in the letters, are etched into the unique and personalized plate. For her, it was important that the piece showcase something deeply personal from the veteran’s life and story. Nandwana echoes Cardona’s sentiments that the creative collaboration would produce even better results if allowed more time.
Despite the time constraints, both Cardona and Nandwana immensely enjoyed working on the project together and recommended that it be kept as a unit for both classes. “I think this was a really good and creative thing that we did. I thought it was much better than just writing a paper and submitting that as a final project,” Nandwana commented. Both students expressed their appreciation for the unique exposure and the opportunity to make their work even more impactful.
Not only has student feedback been extremely encouraging, but Dr. Latham has also received an overwhelmingly positive response from the broader community. Dr. Latham plans to continue this project for future classes, ideally timing the culmination of the project to coincide with Veterans Day.
