Showcase for Illinois World War II Veterans' Memorial Classroom Project
April 30th, 8:00 - 3:30, Illinois State Library, Springfield

In spring 2008, 13 project school teams were chosen to participate in a statewide WWII project designed to digitally capture the stories of Illinois WWII veterans. The project is being funded by the Illinois World War II Veteran’s Memorial Board (http://ww2il.com/) and administered by the Illinois Learning Technology Centers and its partners.

During this school year, these teams of students, teachers and additional students at these project schools have been interviewing WWII veterans and creating digital documentaries based on their interviews. The documentaries are being posted at http://wwii.ltc.k12.il.us .   During this process students have acquired an appreciation for the contributions and dedication of the “Greatest Generation” to the common cause of maintaining democracy and freedom worldwide. (Further there is a plan for the raw footage to be submitted to The Library of Congress Veterans History Project (http://www.loc.gov/vets)).

A showcase to present between 15 and 20 of the students’ best digital projects will be held on April 30 at the Illinois State Library, Springfield.  The event will start at 8:10 and will run until 4:00 p.m.  Starting at 8:30 a.m. and running in one hour time slots, teams of students will be presenting their WWII video projects with a total of 20 projects being shown.  In addition at 11:30 and at 2:30 Ms. Marian Kuethe-Wyatt , Director, and her students from the Champaign Centennial H.S. Choir dressed in authentic WWII uniforms will be presenting a 30 minute WWII Musical Review.  The event will close with as awards ceremony starting at 3:15—presenters will be Illinois Senator Deanna Demuzio; John Carrigan, President Illinois WWII Memorial Board and Anne Craig, Director Illinois State Library.

More information and links to completed Champaign Unit 4 WWII Video Projects can be found at http://www.champaignschools.org/WWII.html.

About the Illinois World War II Veteran’s Memorial Board

Originally the Illinois World War II Veteran’s Memorial Board was incorporated as a Not-For-Profit Corporation on February 22, 2000, with the intention to construct a permanent state memorial honoring Illinois’ 987,000 veterans who served in WWII.  The WWII memorial is located at Oakridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois near the Vietnam and Korean Veteran’s memorial.  The WWII memorial was dedicated on December 4, 2004.

Since 2004 the WWII Board has continued its fundraising efforts through memorial brick sales and other donation in order to promote additional projects to support the effort of preserving the memories and sacrifices made by the Greatest Generation to keep the U.S. and the world free and secure.

The Illinois WWII Veterans’ Memorial Board Classroom Project is one of these projects.

If you would like to purchase a memorial brick or donate to the ILLINOIS WWII Veterans Board in order to further support the Illinois WWII CLASSROOM Project or any of their initiatives please contact any board member at 1-866-992-4145 or go to Illinois WWII Veterans’ website at http://ww2il.com/ for further information.