Welcome to The 2023 UCF Veterans Legacy Program (VLP) Institute Podcast Series, a limited narrative podcast series directed, produced, written, edited, and hosted by Sebastian Garcia. The series focuses on a 10-day educational workshop created by UCF’s Veterans Legacy Program to honor and memorialize Veterans through powerful pedagogical teaching methods given to K-12 teachers across the state of Florida to ensure that the legacy of Veterans can be appreciated and shared for generations to come.

The 2023 UCF VLP Institute was hosted at the historic St. Francis Barracks (headquarters of the Florida National Guard) and the adjacent St. Augustine National Cemetery (SANC). The Institute was incredibly versatile in profile and content. The UCF VLP Team comprised UCF History Professors and graduate and undergraduate students. The subjects of the participating K-12 teachers ranged from history to English Language Arts to Civics to JROTC to Physical Education. A myriad of activities, from interactive workshops to informative lectures to special presentations given by acclaimed veteran history researchers to field trip activities at SANC, remarkably fulfills the UCF VLP and broader Veteran Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration (NCA) mission to honor Veterans in perpetuity in innovative and engaging ways.

Sebastian Garcia joined the Institute on Day 6 out of the 10 Institute. At this point, the K12 teachers had been at the Institute for almost a week, and the conversations Sebastian had with the teachers reflected that impetus. But before we get to those conversations, in this prologue, Sebastian does an extensive “historiography” (literature review) to provide context so that anyone can understand how and why this Institute came to be and how it was a product of tremendous collaboration with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs’ (VA) National Cemetery Administration (NCA). Situating the Institute in this historical context undoubtedly reveals its significance with sharp clarity.

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

Executive Producers: Sebastian Garcia and Dr. Amelia Lyons.

Music: “Bugatti” by prazkhanal (Pixabay), “Honor and Glory” and “Real Heroes” by SergePavkinMusic (Pixabay), “Suspense Intro” by SegreQuadrado (Pixabay)

Sound Effects: “Birds chirping” and “Shotgun” by Pixabay

UCF VLP WEBSITE: https://vlp.cah.ucf.edu

UCF VLP K-12 INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS: https://vlp.cah.ucf.edu/k12.php

Veteran Biographies: https://vlp.cah.ucf.edu/biographies.php

Podcast Cover Artwork: Sebastian Garcia

References:

https://vlp.cah.ucf.edu/about.php

https://vlp.cah.ucf.edu/index.php

https://www.cem.va.gov/cem/history/timeline/timeline-1862.asp

https://www.cem.va.gov/cem/history/timeline/index.asp

https://www.cem.va.gov/cem/history/timeline/timeline-1867.asp

https://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/alexandriava.asp

https://www.cem.va.gov/facts/Dates_of_Establishment_1.asp

https://www.cem.va.gov/facts/Facts_About_NCA.asp

https://www.cem.va.gov/facts/NCA_History_and_Development_1.asp

https://www.cem.va.gov/facts/NCA_History_and_Development_2.asp

https://www.cem.va.gov/facts/NCA_History_and_Development_3.asp

https://www.cem.va.gov/legacy/

https://www.cem.va.gov/legacy/colleges.asp

https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1867?amount=750000

https://www.nps.gov/frla/learn/historyculture/memorials.htm

https://www.ucf.edu/news/ucf-to-help-k-12-teachers-create-veteran-focused-classroom-projects/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQzXXjW5FLI&t=7s (INAUGARAL UCF VLP TRIP IN 2017)

Tom Howard, Chief of Staff for the NCA, “Veterans Legacy Program memorializes service, stories” (July 27, 2016). https://news.va.gov/29367/veterans-legacy-program-memorializes-service-stories/

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