H I L LTO P HA P P ENINGS
RealWorldCurriculum:TheMilitary-CivilianGap by Kendra L. Bates, Assistant Director of Communications
Lindsay Bennett ’24, Virginia Hudson ’24, Noah Rich ’24, Thomas Brennan, Jessica Wojdak ’24, Hannah Nahas ’24, and Brad Belin
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nspired by a spring trimester social studies learning unit on war, military service, and veterans, students Virginia Hudson, Jessica Wojdak, Lindsay Bennett, and Noah Rich — all members of the Berwick Academy Class of 2024 — took their interest in the subject beyond the classroom to gain professional journalistic experience.
Wojdak wrote about dissecting difficult conversations between civilians and veterans and how those conversations can be brought into the classroom. She interviewed Marine Corps Captain Dave Donahue, asking him to share how common statements such as ’thank you for your service’ can make veterans feel.
Working alongside social studies teacher Brad Belin, who taught them in eighth grade, as well as Thomas Brennan, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and the founder and executive director of the military-focused nonprofit The War Horse News, the students spent 18 months gaining experience alongside professional journalists.
“Writing my essay was very empowering, educational, and grounding,” Wojdak said. “It reminded me to be grateful for everything I have in life. I quickly realized that my only impressions of war and military service were all about training and combat. I had never seen the impact of war until I spoke with these veterans.”
Each of the students chose a topic specific to military service and drafted an article with guidance from Belin and Brennan. As a result of this partnership, these four Berwick Academy students are published writers. Their stories explore a range of topics, from viewing service as a military child to understanding a grandfather’s service to insight into how military service should be discussed in the classroom. On November 11, 2021, the stories were featured on the front page of military.com in honor of Veterans Day.
Bennett used the project as an opportunity to learn more about her grandfather’s military history, illustrating his service with the U.S. Army in Vietnam through the late 1960s and early ’70s. Hudson also wrote about her grandfather’s service with the U.S. Air Force and was surprised to find out he had very few stories of combat from his service in Delaware and Germany. She learned that service is not just about the front lines, but the many important roles that contribute to a bigger picture.
44 | WINTER/SPRING 2022
For Rich, the connection to the military was close to home, having grown up with his father serving in the Middle East as a doctor for the U.S. Navy. Though his father never witnessed combat, he is no stranger to the effects of war, having been the first to see the physical state of sick and injured veterans. Rich compared the stories he heard from his father to those he heard in school and made a revelation that he used to title his essay “War Is Indefinable.” “In schools, you learn just about what the war was about and what happened during and after, then you move on,” he wrote. “There should be more of an education about how war affects individuals.” Rich’s mother and Berwick Academy Lower and Middle School music teacher Page Rich was inspired by the project. “As parents, we hope our children embrace learning opportunities that empower them to better understand themselves and the world around them. This project began as a class conversation on Zoom in the early days of the pandemic and quickly became a journey that carried students far beyond the classroom.”
