Working with the ABMC

Understanding Sacrifice was a multi-year professional development initiative sponsored by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) and the VA National Cemetery Administration (NCA). Over the course of 18 months, middle- and high-school teachers engage in intensive research and international travel, ultimately creating free, interdisciplinary classroom lessons. These lessons were designed to bring ABMC and NCA resources into schools, deepening students’ understanding of the service, experience, and sacrifice of American service members during World War II.

I led all public media production for the program across multiple years, documenting educators as they traveled through Europe and the Pacific. At each American cemetery, I filmed and produced powerful eulogy videos delivered by teachers at the gravesites of the service members they researched. I also captured photography at cemeteries, museums, and historic locations, with images featured in social media campaigns and printed promotional materials. My work helped tell the story of the program to a broader audience and preserved the emotional impact of these journeys of remembrance.