Press Releases

Memorial Announces Launch of National Education Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2008

Contact: Nancy Coggins, APR
405.235.3313 or 405.760.9053

MEMORIAL ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAM
Program uses lessons of Memorial to teach resilience, respect, responsibility

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum has announced the launch of a new national
education program geared to middle school students and based on the lessons of the Memorial.

Called2Change is designed to reach students at a critical point in their lives, when peer pressure, growing responsibility and the need to belong are at their peak.

Based on the important lessons of respect, resilience and responsibility, Called2Change helps students understand that every life has meaning and importance, communicate that there is far more good than evil in the world, realize how an individual act can contribute to violence and identify ways that individuals can contribute to serving others.

“In this day and age especially, it is of paramount importance to give our young people the tools they need to handle problems without rancor, threats and violence,” said Oklahoma First Lady and former educator Kim Henry during today’s press conference announcing the launch. “The adolescent and teenaged years that you and I experienced are not the same as the challenges and realities facing young people today. From the Internet to video games, ours is a media-driven culture steeped in images of violence. The stakes are high: We must do a better job teaching our children that violence is not the answer.”

Schools that have implemented this powerful program have seen marked improvement in their school environments, including dramatic decreases in office referrals and suspensions due to conflict as well as fewer physical disagreements among students.

The program is designed in three steps. Step one brings the Memorial’s Hope Trunk: An Offering of Positive Education to the school. Full of artifacts and activities that introduce the impact of the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City and the repercussions in the lives touched and changed forever, use of the trunk puts students in the proper frame of mind to visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.

Step two brings the students to the Memorial and Museum for a half-day of immersion in the experience of the Memorial. A tour of the Outdoor Symbolic Memorial by a National Park Service Ranger is followed by the Memorial Museum experience, including Student Journals to guide the journey and keep students focused. Additionally, students participate in a First Person: Stories of Hope presentation with a people who were directly impacted by the bombing sharing their own stories of hope and resilience with the students. This presentation can also be provided via distance learning for those schools that cannot do so at the Memorial.

Step three includes post-visit activities in the classroom led by the school principal and school or grade level counselor. These activities include discussion of eight principles and the responsibility of treating others with respect.

The Oklahoma City Public Schools have committed to having every seventh grade student in the district participate in the program during its pilot school year, 2008-2009. In addition, middle school students from Tulsa Public Schools will also participate.

“We are very excited to be able to introduce Called2Change to the two largest school districts in Oklahoma,” said Memorial and Museum Deputy Director Lynne Roller. “The impact of this program on the students and the school environment is incredible and it will be great to watch the positive affects it has on the participating schools.”

Other schools within and outside Oklahoma will participate in the Called2Change program, either in whole or with specific components.

“We can adapt the experience to fit within the needs of the individual school or district,” Roller said. “Some schools who participate do so in conjunction with other tolerance or violence prevention programs already in place in their schools.”

Sixty educators from across Oklahoma were on hand for the announcement, attending the Memorial’s eighth annual Education Summit. Those educators will also have the opportunity to participate in the pilot program.

Called2Change is made possible through a generous gift of $50,000 from SandRidge Energy, Inc. Shipping of the Hope Trunk is generously provided by FedEx.

The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum was created to honor those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever by the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The Memorial and Museum are dedicated to educating visitors about the impact of violence, informing about events surrounding the bombing, and inspiring hope and healing through lessons learned by those affected.

For more information on the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, call 888.542.HOPE or visit www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org.

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