In the final episode, Angie Hubbart and Alexis Wood—both returning K12 educators—reflected more broadly on their two-year experience with UCF VLP. This entailed deeply assessing how the deliverables they developed during the 2023 Institute unfolded throughout the 2023-2024 school year and how that first-year experience shaped their overall approach for year two of UCF VLP. That the signature motif of this year’s podcast series—replaying audio from last year’s conversations—was used more times than in any previous discussion proves indicative of how this episode remains intended to close the series by offering a larger mosaic of the UCF Veterans Legacy Program through the experiences of two successful and seasoned VLP educators. Sebastian concludes the series (01:05:46) by briefly recapping what we learned in the past six weeks about UCF VLP, American history, Veterans’ memorialization, and K12 education (and more).

Alexis Wood was featured in Episode Four, and Angie Hubbart was featured in Episode Eight of The 2023 UCF VLP Institute Podcast Series for those interested.

This episode was directed, produced, written, edited, and hosted by Sebastian Garcia and featured Angie Hubbart and Alexis Wood.

Executive Producers: Sebastian Garcia and Dr. Amelia Lyons.

Music: “Honor and Glory” and “Real Heroes” by SergePavkinMusic (Pixabay)

Podcast Cover Artwork: Sebastian Garcia

The 2024 UCF VLP Podcast Series is brought to you by the UCF History Department and UCF’s Veterans Legacy Program—a partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration.

In Episode Four, Alecia Bryant (returning K12 educator) and Amanda Burchins (new K12 educator) primarily discussed their three deliverables (Veteran biography, mini-tour, and lesson plan) and how four days at the 2024 Institute had facilitated their further development. Alecia Bryant’s continuity with UCF VLP since 2023 allows us to examine the program from a broader perspective—such as the differences between the 2023 and 2024 editions of UCF VLP, how the three deliverables ultimately materialized in the classroom during the 2023-2024 school year and how that experience in the classroom with students shaped the approach for the 2024-2025 deliverables. Conversely, Amanda Burchins’s experience as a first-year UCF VLP participant offered a fresh perspective on the program and how the 2024 edition measured on its own two feet. Indeed, this episode excels in exploring UCF VLP through wide and narrow lenses, enabling us to get a deeper sense of the program, its objectives, outcomes, and impact.

For those interested, Alecia Bryant was featured in Episode Eight of The 2023 UCF VLP Institute Podcast Series.

This episode was directed, produced, written, edited, and hosted by Sebastian Garcia and featured Alecia Bryant and Amanda Burchins.

Executive Producers: Sebastian Garcia and Dr. Amelia Lyons.

Music: “Honor and Glory” and “Real Heroes” by SergePavkinMusic (Pixabay)

Podcast Cover Artwork: Sebastian Garcia

The 2024 UCF VLP Podcast Series is brought to you by the UCF History Department and UCF’s Veterans Legacy Program—a partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration.

In Episode Three, Sergeant Major (Sgt Maj) Ray Fullard recounts his experience taking his JROTC cadets to Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida. Throughout the school year, Sgt. Maj tasked his JROTC cadets to research and write a biography of a Veteran interred at Bushnell who served during the Gulf War (1990-91), Operation Enduring Freedom (2001-2014), and Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2011). Sgt Major is a Marine Corps Veteran from those same conflicts, meaning he served—directly or indirectly—with many of the Veterans the cadets researched and visited during their trip to Bushnell. Such personal insights—and Sgt. Maj’s experience with UCF VLP last year—allows us to better understand how the deliverables and outcomes of UCF VLP ultimately materialize and why this work of honoring and memorializing Veterans' legacies proves paramount and necessary.

For those interested, Sgt. Maj Fullard was featured in Episode Five of The 2023 UCF VLP Institute Podcast Series.

This episode was directed, produced, written, edited, and hosted by Sebastian Garcia and featured Sgt. Maj Ray Fullard.

Executive Producers: Sebastian Garcia and Dr. Amelia Lyons.

Music: “Honor and Glory” and “Real Heroes” by SergePavkinMusic (Pixabay)

Podcast Cover Artwork: Sebastian Garcia

The 2024 UCF VLP Podcast Series is brought to you by the UCF History Department and UCF’s Veterans Legacy Program—a partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration.

In Episode Two, Andrew Carroll’s herculean efforts to seek and collect over 210,000 war letters—that span since the American Revolution—demonstrate how others are as seriously committed to preserving the legacies of the men and women who served and fought for their country. Andrew shares several letters from his impressive collection, allowing us to be as close as possible to the Veterans—engaging with their own words, thoughts, and emotions. The roughly 210,000 war letters Andrew has preserved for over twenty-five years often exemplify themes central to UCF VLP.

Andrew Carroll is an award-winning historian and author who founded and directs the Center for American War Letters at Chapman University. He was the second keynote speaker invited to share his extraordinary work during the 2024 UCF VLP Institute.

This episode was directed, produced, written, edited, and hosted by Sebastian Garcia and featured Andrew Carroll.

Executive Producers: Sebastian Garcia and Dr. Amelia Lyons.

Music: “Honor and Glory” and “Real Heroes” by SergePavkinMusic (Pixabay)

Podcast Cover Artwork: Sebastian Garcia

The 2024 UCF VLP Podcast Series is brought to you by the UCF History Department and UCF’s Veterans Legacy Program—a partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration.

In Episode One, Dr. Amy Giroux’s groundbreaking research on recovering the identities of previously unknown Native American prisoners and lost Union soldiers buried in St. Augustine National Cemetery enables us to understand the centrality of space and place in Veteran memorialization and legacy with tremendous clarity.

Dr. Amy Giroux—a co-principal investigator (PI) and the technical lead for UCF VLP—was one of two keynote speakers invited to present their research during the 2024 UCF VLP Institute.

This episode was directed, produced, written, edited, and hosted by Sebastian Garcia and featured Dr. Amy Giroux.

Executive Producers: Sebastian Garcia and Dr. Amelia Lyons.

Music: “Honor and Glory” and “Real Heroes” by SergePavkinMusic (Pixabay)

Podcast Cover Artwork: Sebastian Garcia

The 2024 UCF VLP Podcast Series is brought to you by the UCF History Department and UCF’s Veterans Legacy Program—a partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration.

The 2024 UCF VLP Podcast Series explores the UCF Veterans Legacy Program (VLP) and its mission to honor and memorialize Veterans buried in Florida’s national cemeteries in innovative and engaging ways, primarily through the experiences of the participating K12 educators. For the past two years, UCF VLP has been specifically designed to instruct K12 educators how to teach Veterans' history to K12 students by learning how to create grade-level appropriate classroom projects that focus on Veterans’ service within itself and within the context of local (Florida), national (American), and international (global) histories. The K12 educators who applied and were accepted to the program work with UCF history professors and students year-round on three specific deliverables (Veteran biography, national cemetery mini-tour, and lesson plan) that result in the grade-level appropriate classroom projects and that reflect the overall objective of highlighting Veterans, their service, and their sacrifice in K12 instruction and to a K12 audience.

Unlike the prologue episode from last year’s award-winning 2023 UCF VLP Institute Podcast Series, this episode focuses on a conversation with Dr. Amelia Lyons—Associate Professor of History and the Director and Principal Investigator (PI) of UCF VLP. As Sebastian repeatedly asserts, Dr. Lyons is the “most qualified person” to provide a larger year-long portrait of UCF VLP. Indeed, the conversation appropriately and effectively synthesizes and previews the major themes throughout all six episodes of this year’s podcast series. Before the conversation (13:27), Sebastian briefly explains essential concepts and features that define The 2024 UCF VLP Podcast Series.

Click here for a direct link to last year's award-winning 2023 UCF VLP Institute Podcast Series.

Click here for a direct link to the UCF VLP website, where numerous Veteran biographies, mini-tours, and lesson plans covering various topics and conflicts are available.

This episode was directed, produced, written, edited, and hosted by Sebastian Garcia and featured Dr. Amelia Lyons.

Executive Producers: Sebastian Garcia and Dr. Amelia Lyons.

Music: “Honor and Glory” and “Real Heroes” by SergePavkinMusic (Pixabay)

Podcast Cover Artwork: Sebastian Garcia

The 2024 UCF VLP Podcast Series is brought to you by the UCF History Department and UCF’s Veterans Legacy Program—a partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration.

The Department of History's Sebastian Garcia spoke with Afrofuturism Academic Conference curators Dr. Julian Chambliss and Dr. Scot French about this year's edition of the ZORA! Festival Afrofuturism Academic Conference which was grounded in the theme of the space of Afrofuturism. This thematic approach was incredibly timely as Dr. Chambliss and Dr. French discussed thoroughly how they used the conference as a public platform to widen attention and draw support for the Robert Hungerford School in Eatonville, Florida, which is currently in a complex legal battle to retain its historical and cultural significance to Eatonville in the face of gentrification and urban renewal. In addition, since this was the final year of the 2020-2024 Afrofuturism Academic Conference Cycle, Dr. Chambliss and Dr. French reflected on the half-a-decade experience of developing, leading, and curating this tremendous scholarly and public event.

Guest Bios:

Dr. Julian Chambliss is a Professor of English with an appointment in History and the Val Berryman Curator of History at the MSU Museum at Michigan State University. In addition, he is a core participant in the MSU College of Arts & Letters’ Consortium for Critical Diversity in a Digital Age Research (CEDAR). His research focuses on race, culture, and power in real and imagined urban spaces. His recent writing has appeared in the American Historical Review, Phylon, Frieze Magazine, Rhetoric Review, and Boston Review. Lastly, Dr. Chambliss was the curator of the 2020-2024 ZORA! Festival Afrofuturism Academic Conference Cycle.

Dr. Scot French is an Associate Professor of History, Director of Public History, and Associate Director of the Center for Humanities and Digital Research at the University of Central Florida. He is the author of The Rebellious Slave: Nat Turner in American Memory and has published extensively on African American history, cultural landscapes, and sites of memory. His research on Eatonville and its Hungerford School has been featured in the Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts, Winter Park Magazine, WUCF’s Central Florida Road Trip, and CBS Sunday Morning. Dr. French chairs the ZORA! Festival Academics Committee and serves as UCF’s lead organizer for the conference in collaboration with Afrofuturism Cycle curator Dr. Julian Chambliss.

In the final episode of “The 2023 UCF VLP Institute Podcast Series,” we return to an “after-hours” edition as Sebastian Garcia spoke with Nicole Bennett (2nd-grade Teacher at Webster Elementary), Erika Grant (Physical Education Teacher at Webster Elementary), and Judy Lindquist (K-5 Gifted Teacher at Andover Elementary), at the hotel after the entire Day 8 program. This includes the events of Episode 6 (“meta” field trip) and Episode 7 (subsequent roundtable discussion), in addition to afternoon workshops titled “Themed Explorations: Putting together your Mini-Theme Tour of SANC” and “Trying Tech: An Introduction to Using Google Maps, Cilo, and StoryMaps for Veterans History.” What ultimately ensued was a tremendous reflective exercise for these teachers as they had A LOT to process and decompress. Given this, in addition to the teachers closing in on Day 8 and approaching the final two days at the Institute, the conversation carried an unintentional finality—a beautiful way to close this podcast series.

At the end of the episode, Sebastian brings it to the present, as he briefly spoke with Dr. Amelia Lyons about her reflections on Year 1 of UCF VLP executing an educational Institute for K12 teachers about teaching and memorializing Veterans’ history. Dr. Lyons even shared with us some exciting details about the future of this initiative.

This episode was directed, produced, written, edited, and hosted by Sebastian Garcia, and featured Nicole Bennett, Erika Grant, Judy Lindquist, and Dr. Amelia Lyons.

Executive producers: Sebastian Garcia and Dr. Amelia Lyons.

Music: “Honor and Glory” and “Real Heroes” by SergePavkinMusic (Pixabay)

Podcast Cover Artwork: Sebastian Garcia

The 2023 UCF VLP Institute Podcast Series is brought to you by UCF’s Department of History and UCF’s Veterans Legacy Program—a partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration.