Project Launch:

A grant from World Connect’s Kids to Kids Program in 2011 supported an educational tour for college students from the College of Teacher Education (CTE) in the Philippines that brought students to Philippine-American Landmarks such as Corregidor, Clark Air Base Pampanga and Subic, all situated in Luzon. Corregidor, Clark Air Base, and Subic Bay are historical landmarks between the American and Filipino people, and the goal of studying and visiting these places was to generate a greater appreciation of shared history and create a fuller understanding of Filipino identity. Corregidor was originally populated by fisherman, an area by the coast. Later when the Spanish arrived they transformed it to a shipping check point. After the Treaty of Paris in 1898, it became an American military base. It is also at this place where the Filipinos and Americans fought against Japanese invaders in WWII. The Clark Air Base is a historical landmark between the Filipinos and Americans as it was an American military facility from 1903 to 1991 and mainly utilized for WWII and the Vietnam War. The air base is now a symbolic landmark that displays the intrinsic relationship between Americans and Filipinos. The US Naval Base in Subic Bay was the site of many battles such as the Battle of Manila Bay, Philippine-American War and was involved in WWI. On the trips students encountered elders from the regions and had personal conversations with them, developed greater empathy for their and other different histories and perspectives, and drew connections between the issues they'd been learning about in class. Students were required to keep a reflective English journal throughout the tour and conducted interviews with locals, read personal narrative stories, and transcribed these stories in English. At the end of the trip, students worked in groups to compose and select the best stories related to these landmarks and constructed a theatrical skit. They performed these skits in their community and invited children, students, teachers, and adults in the community to share their new knowledge.