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UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF NEW ROCHELLE TO PRESENT ORAL HISTORY PROJECT AT NYS MIDDLE SCHOOL ASSOCATION CONFERENCE

NEW ROCHELLE, NY, October 18, 2004 -- A collaborative interdisciplinary oral history project on Vietnam veterans co-sponsored by The College of New Rochelle (CNR) and Isaac E. Young Middle School in New Rochelle, will be spotlighted at the upcoming annual conference for the New York State Middle School Association from October 21-23 in Lake Placid, New York. 

Dr. Linda Swerdlow, Assistant Professor of Education at CNR, and Mr. Tony Martino, an eighth grade history teacher, will present their project along with CNR undergraduate students Lindsay Dugan (Valhalla), Felecia Green (Bronx), Twanda Mann (Mount Vernon), Daniella Narrdis (City Island), and Kimberly Nickerson (Massachusetts).  The students -- history, classics, and mathematics majors in CNR’s School of Arts & Sciences -- are enrolled in The College’s teaching certification program.

“CNR and Isaac E. Young decided to become local partners for the Veterans History Project for several reasons,” said Dr. Swerdlow, who teaches a middle school course at CNR.  “Most importantly, we felt strongly that it provided our students with an interactive project documenting an important part of our nation’s history.”

Dr. Swerdlow and Mr. Martino worked together to develop this collaborative interdisciplinary project.  The CNR students were trained to conduct oral histories by a professional oral historian employed by the Library of Congress before they developed a curriculum which drew from both history and mathematics.  The CNR students teamed up with middle school students to conduct the videotaped interviews with local Vietnam veterans.  All interviews have been archived at the Library of Congress/American Folklife Center.

The U.S. Congress voted unanimously to create the Veterans History Project in October 2000 to honor our nation’s war veterans and those who served in support of them. The mission of the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress is to collect the memories, accounts, and documents of war veterans from World War I, World War II, and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars, and to preserve these stories of experience and service for future generations.

The first Catholic college for women in New York State, The College of New Rochelle was founded in 1904 by the Ursuline Order. Today, it comprises the all-women School of Arts & Sciences, and three schools which admit women and men: the School of New Resources (for adult learners), the School of Nursing and the Graduate School.  The main campus of the College is located in lower Westchester County, 16 miles north of New York City.  The College maintains six other campus locations in New York City. Visit the College’s website at www.cnr.edu
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