PROJECT SCOPE: WHAT IS STUDENTS FOR RENEW?

The “what” of Students for Renew is best understood by examining its component parts. We see this structure to be like that of a tripod, with each leg supporting, and taking support, from the others.

The first leg is education. The educational goal is to create a curriculum examining the historic and modern relationship between Vietnam and the United States, in a way that is fully relevant for the students of today. This means contextualizing the military conflict of the 1960s and 1970s, and exploring the evolution of both states after the war, focusing on the problem of postwar injury and death suffered by Vietnamese civilians resulting from contact with explosive weapons leftover from the war.

The second leg is student outreach. Students for Renew provides an opportunity for young people to become active participants in a global community, practicing community service in a world made small by the global information network. At home, Studetns for Renew unites learners with a common interest, providing an environment conducive to the growth of creative civic leadership skills, as civically active and responsible members of their school, and community.

The third leg is geared toward focusing the group's efforts as a patron organization, raising money for Project Renew. Project Renew is a non- government organization operating on the ground in Vietnam that exists solely to help "neutralize the effects of war," that are continuously visited upon the current population. Their mission is comprehensive and includes everything from land mine education designed to teach the population about the dangers of land mines and UXOs (unexploded ordnance), to skills training, job creation, medical care, and micro-loans to the victims of land mine and UXO accidents. Students for Renew's final goal is to provide financial support to Project Renew through fundraising.

Education. Community Service. Patronage

PROJECT GENESIS: ON A BUS OUT OF QUANG TRI...

"I remember sitting in the Project Renew headquarters," says Students for Renew founder Bill Holiday, "in Quang Tri Province, in August of 2007 and thinking aloud that we (educators and teachers) ought to do something about the UXO problem."

In the 20 steps bridging the span from the exit of Project Renew headquarters, to the delegation tour bus, Bill created, what later came to be called "Students for Renew," in his head. I sat next to Bill on the bus that afternoon, and listened to his ideas.

He talked about creating a student organization that could educate high-schooolers in Vermont, and raise money for Project Renew, sending the cash right back to Quang Tri. And he talked about dollar donation campaigns, and genuine student leadership, with big responsibilities. It was simple and elegant. And as we boarded the bus, with the rest of our delegation, Bill started talking again. He started talking about programs, not only in Brattleboro, the Vermont town where I lived and he teaches high school history, but programs in other schools, all over the country. On a dusty road out of Dong Ha, he had figured out what we were going to do. That was 2 years ago.

A year later, in the summer of 2008, Bill introduced me to his first student volunteer, the intrepid Caroline Heydinger. Over breakfast at the Backside Cafe, they told me about their efforts. They had started raising money at Brattleboro High School, setting up a pilot version of Bill's program. Bill and Caroline became the first education apostles for Project Renew. And they started visiting schools all over the country, talking about land mine awareness and the nameless student organization they had started, to raise money for Project Renew. They had begun in earnest, and it was quite a thing to see.

The second goal of those trips was research. Could this organization work? Could other students in other schools adopt the program, and make it their own. The students of South Riding, Virginia's Freedom High School said "yes," and became the organization's second chapter. Even before its public unveiling, Bill Holiday and the students of Brattleboro, Vermont and Riding, Virginia had raised $2000 for Project Renew.

And as my omelette settled, they came to the point of my presence at breakfast that morning: "Reg, here's what we want from you: We need a movie. Something short, that plugs folks in to Project Renew, and what we're doing in schools to raise money. And we need a website; something to get the info out, and maybe show the movie. Can you do that?" Yes, I can do that. That's when I became involved. The website and movie became part of my Masters thesis. We're all students around here.

On June 11th, 2009 we're staging an event that represents the culmination of Bill's brainstorm, a project we call Students for Renew. We'll show you the movie, and talk about the program; why we started it, and why you should contribute. As for the website, you're looking at it. Make yourself at home.

Reginald Martell
May 2009
Brattleboro, Vermont

MEMORIAL FUND

This project begins and ends at the gate of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Fund; it begins and ends with Vietnam War veterans. It was they, along with the Quang Tri People's Committee, who took the initiative and started Project RENEW. They hire the de-miners, and pay the doctors. They sponsor school outreach programs, where kids teach other kids about the dangers of the metallic devices that periodically appear from beneath the soils of their play and crop fields. They lend the money, and build the houses, and provide vocational training to the injured. They do the work.

Our goal is to help them, as best we can. "Help Us Help Them," is the slogan. Help us teach, and help us give.

OUR VOLUNTEERS

Bill Holiday, Program Director

Bill Holiday has been teaching in the Windham Southest Supervisory Union in Vermont for 37 years and has been an Adjunct Faculty member at Keene State College since 1985. Holiday has developed and led many teacher training opportunities including the White Rose Project for integrated instruction and writing curriculum; ‘Writing Civil Rights Curriculum' through Keene State College; field studies with groups in Dallas, Texas to investigate the assassination of John F. Kennedy; a field study in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi for veteran teachers and undergraduate students; and a trip to the Republic of Ireland where group participants studied the Great Hunger and Easter Rising. During the summer of 2003, Holiday was selected to participate in the Teach Vietnam Teachers Network and during summer of 2007 visited Vietnam with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. Most recently, Holiday led a group of educators to Italy in 2008 to write curriculum using the local environment. Holiday is a graduate of Windham College 1972 – BA American Studies and Keene State College 1975 – Masters in Education.

Caroline Heydinger, Student Liason

Caronline Heydinger is SFR's first student liaison. A 2009 graduate of Brattleboro Union High School, Caroline spent her junior year traveling the United States to speak on behalf of students. In April 2009 she achieved a 2nd place finish in the 72nd Annual American Legion National High School Oratorical Scholarship contest in Indianapolis.

Caroline is currently a freshman at Georgetown University.

Reginald Martell, IT Director

Reginald Martell is a degree candidate in the Library and Information Science program at the University of Hawaii, holds a Master of Arts in Teaching wtih Technollgy from Marlboro College, and a BA in United States History from Keene State College. Martell joined the Vietnam, Peace & Friendship delegation's 2007 visit to Vietnam as a student guest of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Fund.