University students in Florida will research and write the biographies of more than a hundred veterans buried in a state cemetery and report them through an augmented reality application and an internet site.
The National Cemetery Administration (NCA) is looking to pay tribute to the dead for their homeland on Memorial Day, which is celebrated today in the United States, and chose three universities in the country.
Kristina Himschoot, a University of Central Florida History (UCF) student with deep military roots in her family, said after a visit to the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, which has “the greatest respect “For this initiative.
Anson Shurr, another student, said he hoped to achieve a deeper, more personal connection with veterans through this research aimed at rescuing his stories.
“To see their tombs in person, epitaphs and everything, is quite personal, but once you realize that in many cases they lived in the same city or street as you, or you see a last name you know, it gets you closer,” Said the student.
Shurr, who is also involved in the project, led by Professor Amelia Lyons, was shocked to see soldiers of their own age who paused their lives and dreams of going to war.
UCF participates in the so-called Veterans Legacy Program, through a $ 290,000 federal contract, which will be delivered later this year and posted on the university’s website.
Likewise, UCF faculty and students will collaborate with schools in central Florida to develop interactive curricula for students from elementary through high school to teach them the lives of these soldiers and the wars in which they participated.
Visitors to the cemetery and students attending the field trips will also learn about the history of these veterans through the application of augmented reality, by the digital historian Scot French and computer science specialist Amy Giroux.
