Spotlighting the Digital Clubhouse Network and Stories of Service

By: Warren Hegg

In partnership with National History Day, the History Channel, the FDR, Truman and Eisenhower presidential museums and libraries, and more than 30 other organizations, Digital Clubhouse Network is mobilizing America's youth to document the stories of the men and women who experienced the tumultuous events of the past century (e.g. the Great Depression, World War II, and the postwar recovery) and set the gold standard for service to community.

Together, these partner organizations will be introducing more than 1 million teachers and students to Stories of Service this fall.

The Stories of Service program involves youth interviewing America's "greatest generation" and producing short videos about their lives that are shared with schools, libraries, museums and the rest of the world on the Internet, to educate and inspire future generations.

The program, which originated in 1998 and has received three medals from the Smithsonian Institution for "visionary use of information technology to effect positive educational, economic and political change," and was featured at the National Service Learning conferences in 2006 and 2007. (Father Paul Locatelli, president of Santa Clara University, and the president of Campus Compaq, has been an honorary adviser to Stories of Service for several years.)

The program is all the more relevant in today's world, as America once again is facing historic economic and geo-political challenges. By interacting with those who successfully overcame these challenges when they, too, were young, today's youth can gain perspective and insight in how America can respond to the issues of the 21st century through a renewed commitment to community and service to one another.

Please visit www.Stories-of-Service.org for more information.