Tuesday, April 23, 2024
As an educator in the Gran-bury school district, Rhonda Naylor provides students with opportunities to be engaged with veterans.
They interview veterans, they help with veteran gatherings, they make connections and help preserve their stories.
Naylor’s efforts have been recognized by the school administration and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The Granbury ISD Education Foundation acknowledged the value of these interactions and provided a grant to fund a student interview project with veterans.
“History becomes real, relevant and interesting to students when they make these connections,” she said.
“These experiences are much more valuable and effective than me teaching out of a textbook, plus, they learn to appreciate the sacrifices made for the freedoms we enjoy.”
Veterans Day now has real meaning for the students.
Naylor’s respect for veterans started with her own family. Her dad was a World War II veteran, along with seven uncles. She has 13 family members who have served through the years, including a son-in-law who is a veteran.
Naylor’s efforts to bring students and veterans together started in the 1990s. As a sixth-grade teacher at Oak Woods School, she would have veterans come to school and meet students. After talking in small groups, a Q&A session followed.
Now a history teacher at Granbury STARS Accelerated High School, Naylor’s students volunteer for community projects such as the Hospitalized Veterans Day Out sponsored by local veteran organizations twice a year. Students help serve food, play games, dance and interact with the veterans who are bussed from VA hospitals in the Metroplex to Hood County for a day of relaxation.
Naylor’s students have also been involved with the 9/11 parade and program, served meals to first responders, helped with a Wet Veterans organization event and most recently volunteered at Roll Call, a monthly luncheon honoring veterans in Fort Worth.
Locally, VFW Commander Billy Wells, of the Riley Stevens Memorial Post 7835, has nothing but praise for Naylor and her students.
“If there is a major event at our Post Rhonda Naylor and her class always volunteer to assist,” Wells said.
Wells noted that Naylor and her students have met with local VFW members to create a video/audio documentary of their stories.
“The stories have been sent to the Library of Congress of the United States where they will be preserved for future generations. Where, hopefully they can learn about the sacrifices made by the men and women who wear our nation’s uniform,” Wells said.
For her efforts, VFW Post 7835 post presented Naylor with the National Citizenship Education Teacher Post Recognition Award. The STARS teacher was also named the state winner of the VFW Smart/Maher National Citizenship Education Teacher Program for the 2015-16 school year.
For the past two years Naylor’s students were able to attend the World War II Glider Pilot Association Reunion at the Mid America Flight Museum in Mount Pleasant. The first year, six veterans were interviewed and three the next.
“Last year our students had the amazing opportunity to actually fly in a C-47 troop carrier that had been used in World War II,” Naylor said with excitement.
“One of the pilots who had flown that same plane on occasion in WWII was one we interviewed! I can’t express how awesome that experience was for all of us,” she added.
Naylor said she is continually looking for opportunities to connect with veterans and schedule as many interviews as possible.
“Some veterans will say they didn’t do anything important, but I stress to them, and students, that all played a role in preserving our way of life. It took every part to make the whole,” Naylor stated.
dschneider@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 255
