The Movie:
A digital story is a 3-5 minute “mini-movie” based on a real person’s experiences, usually focusing on a single important event in that person’s life. The Digital Story combines the veteran’s own voice with images, music, and sound effects to grab the audience’s attention and help bring the person’s experience to life.

The digital stories are then used to help share lessons of service with a wider audience.  Finished movies are screened at community events and are archived with the Library of Congress and San Diego’s Veterans Museum and Memorial Center for future generations.

Start Your Own Stories of Service Program:
Until now, Volunteer San Diego has managed the Stories of Service program for the San Diego area.  We are now looking to find passionate and dedicated educators to adopt the curriculum and implement it with their own students.  The stories of the men and women who served our nation in WWII are rapidly fading into the twilight.  Help your students capture these stories before they are gone forever.

The curriculum is ideal for in- or after-school programs and is designed to meet California State standards for History and Social Studies, as well as English Language. 

Volunteer San Diego can offer support in a variety of ways.  Here are just a few ideas of how we can help.  We will design a package to meet your specific needs and budget:

• access to the curriculum - available free for download from the Digital Club House
• fee-based training and curriculum consultation for teachers and administrators
• assistance with researching youth digital storytelling grant opportunities
• recruitment of adult mentors / community volunteers
• organizing student and volunteer recognition / screening events
• connecting to our network of veterans associations and museums - such as the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center in Balboa Park - for access to storytellers, historical collections for student research, and venues for displaying student work