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Passage of Heroes

In an effort to break down generational boundaries and to gain wisdom to help us get through these difficult times, we’ve teamed up with LinkAGES and Golden High School to create a once-in-a-lifetime engagement experience. Please read below to meet our amazing Veterans and High School students and learn about how they have taken connection into their own hands!

Group photo taken on March 27th, 2020, at The Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum

About the program

Wish of a Lifetime’s “Passage of Heroes,” an initiative started in 2020 in partnership with Denver based intergenerational collaborative LinkAGES, pairs high school students with Denver-based veterans ages 68–97 to honor, commemorate and share the legacies of service members through intergenerational connection. Passage of Heroes was set to be a 4 month long program, culminating in a 4 day trip to Washington D.C to see the countries national monuments and memorials. Passage of Heroes officially began on January 16th at Golden High School and students and Veterans enjoyed a second event in mid February at Wings over The Rockies.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, though, the remaining events and the D.C. trip had to unfortunately be indefinitely postponed. This disappointing delay does not mean that the amazing relationships that were built in the beginning of 2020 between our 16 Veterans and 27 Students would come to an end though! Therefore, we are so excited to share this blog with you, created and contributed to by our students and veterans themselves.

This blog will serve as a way for students to connect with their partners, share their conversations and thoughts. Please follow along to learn more about these incredible bonds and to remind yourself of the importance of friendship, especially in this time when we all feel so far away from one another.

(Click here to download photo gallery)

A message from Elija (Passage of Heroes’ Program Coordinator)

Welcome to our Passage of Heroes blog! We are so excited to track the amazing conversations that Students and Veterans have with one another in April 2020. Now more than ever, it is so important for us to stay connected and to really feel and have a sense of community! Students and veterans from the program, please take some time every week to reflect on your conversations with your partner and share with us. Whether it is wisdom, challenges or gratitude, we want to read your reflections! And if you’d like to submit content to be added to this page—whether that be a photo or video, send me a message here!

For those following us, welcome! We are so proud to have such engaged students and veterans and are looking forward to turning to their wisdom and light to guide us through these uncertain and lonely times. If you wish more to learn about this program, please do not hesitate to click here.

 Wishing health and happiness to all!

 

4 Comments

  1. Hey everyone and Happy Tuesday! Just wanted to take a moment to welcome you to our blog- we would love for you to post about your conversations with your partners as to update the whole group on how things have been going for you! We heard from Dean Glorso today- and he was so excited to receive a letter in the mail from one of his student partners. Thank you all for your patience and involvement in this program. Cheers to receiving more amazing items to share soon!

    -Elija


    Decorated Envelope for Dean

  2. Hey Passage of Heroes group! Here is a video clip of Ella (Golden High School student) expressing her views on why intergenerational connections are so important! Sharing videos can be a great way to communicate and allows for a different type of connection, especially during times like these where we are far apart and unable to come together as a group. Please consider shooting your own video as one of your 3 posts and email it to me (natalie@wishofalifetime.org), and I will add it to the blog for you! Here are some things to consider when you make your video: What do you miss about your veteran partner? What has been difficult for you during this time? What are you looking forward to in the future? What message of encouragement would you want people to know? Share a fun moment over the last few weeks! Be creative! And tell us about it.

    Talk soon,
    Natalie

  3. Well said, Ella. Thanks for posting, Natalie.

  4. I hope this post finds you safe and well. Similarly to many of you and much of the world, I have been stuck at home for about 5 weeks now, giving me lots of time to process and think about the current events. While I’ll admit I have experienced some fear and anxiety around whats to come, I have mostly found that this quiet time has given me an opportunity to reach out to those around me, to family and friends and get connected. This past week I was inspired to reach out to my wonderful Nana just to check in and make sure she had enough food, supplies etc. My quick check in call turned into an hour long conversation where she shared some stories of her childhood growing up in Mexico -grinding corn to make tortillas, coming to America when she was 16, and what it was like to eventually raise 7 boys on her own. These are stories that until now I had never heard and I found it to be such a unique gift! I invite you to make the most of this time- Who have you had the opportunity to connect with and what has it meant to you? Share your story below.

    Elija and her Nana

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