26 FRONTDOORS MEDIA | NOVEMBER 2019 NEXT DOORS {ahead of the curve} Ashley Durham and Frank Lambert at a Memorial Day celebration earlier this year. Ashley Durham was a sophomore at Cactus Shadows High School when she met a man by the name of Frank Lambert. On the surface, you wouldn’t think they would click. After all, what would a 14-year-old high school student have to talk about with a Vietnam War veteran? But their interaction would open up worlds for both of them — an old world one of them had almost forgotten about, and a new world for the other that would provide an entirely new perspective on life. Durham and Lambert had agreed to become part of the Veterans Heritage Project when they were introduced in 2010. The project was created with several goals in mind. The primary one was to provide students with an opportunity to interact with military veterans, document their stories and learn from their experiences. It was started by a teacher named Barbara Hatch as a way to enrich the students’ learning and broaden their interpersonal skills, and morphed into a nonprofit in 2009. Tom Evans | Contributing Editor Veterans Heritage Project documents stories of heroes while enlightening young people HONORING WHILE LEARNING

NOVEMBER 2019 | FRONTDOORS MEDIA 27 NOVEMBER 2019 | FRONTDOORS MEDIA 27 “What I find most compelling is that students seek to emulate the character of their veterans,” said Michelle DiMuro, executive director of Veterans Heritage Fund. “The veterans inspire integrity, reliability, leadership and teamwork. The students set goals, work hard and value service.” To date, more than 2,000 veterans and more than 2,100 students have participated. In 2016 they started a speaker series where veterans are invited to speak to a classroom or school assembly, increasing the organization’s overall reach to more than 43,000 students since 2004. With momentum on their side, VHP’s leaders are now focused on growth — although they need support from the community to be able to do it. “Our goal is to become a national model, and to bring our curriculum to any school that wishes to start a chapter,” DiMuro said. “We have a waiting list of over 500 veterans who want to be interviewed. We have interest from schools across Arizona, and even in other states. Our alumni students want to start chapters at their colleges. We are fortunate to be piloting a program in Florida with two schools and a fabulous volunteer. The lessons we learn from the pilot are guiding our decisions on how to expand.” And there are a few interesting side effects. First, by capturing the stories of military veterans, the Veterans Heritage Project actually began capturing history in a way that had never been done before. As the project grew, it began publishing the stories in a series of books, and eventually the interviews that were conducted would become part of the National Archives. And it gave students an opportunity to be part of something unusual in the high school world. “I specifically knew I’m not athletic, so sports were out of the question,” Durham said. “I was looking for an extracurricular activity that was different than the standard volunteer clubs. This one was more unique.” Additionally, the program provides the veterans themselves an opportunity to reexamine experiences that they may not have forgotten, but might not have talked about for years. Lambert’s military service was particularly noteworthy and distinguished. In Vietnam, he served as company commander in the 1 st Cavalry Division, where he earned the Silver Star, Soldier’s Medal and two Purple Hearts. His executive officer (second in command), Mike Sprayberry, was awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing Frank when he was severely injured in a firefight. “For a veteran, it is a very cathartic experience, and it was the first time I had talked to anyone about it in 30 years,” Lambert said. “When you live it again during these interviews, it brings back memories. It brought back things I had forgotten for years that I had gone through — seeing it on paper brought everything alive again. Reliving the The Since You Asked book series honors veterans by telling the stories of their service.