WHAT IF THE PLACES THAT SHAPED HISTORY COULD HELP SHAPE THE FUTURE?”
“Every young person deserves the chance to stand where history was made, discover the meaning behind its sacrifices, and carry its lessons forward with purpose.”
— Steve MELNIKOFF, co-Founder
CONNECTING GENERATIONS
Connecting Generations opens the door to exceptional World War II education for students and educators whose financial circumstances might otherwise place international study beyond their reach. Through a fully funded fellowship, participants prepare through scholarship and primary-source research before studying history across the landscapes where it unfolded. By removing financial barriers, we give promising young people the opportunity to encounter history at its source, broaden their perspective, deepen their understanding of leadership, citizenship, sacrifice, and responsibility, and return prepared to carry those lessons forward.
A SELECTIVE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE
The strength of Connecting Generations lies in the depth of the experience it creates. Small, carefully selected cohorts allow for serious inquiry, thoughtful discussion, and meaningful engagement with historians, educators, historic landscapes, and individual stories. Selection reflects intellectual curiosity, maturity, character, and a willingness to contribute to a shared learning community. Participants are expected to do more than observe; they are challenged to question, interpret, reflect, and engage with history in ways that deepen their understanding of the past and sharpen their sense of responsibility in the present.
NORMANDY IS THE CLASSROOM
Normandy offers a rare setting in which history can be studied through place, evidence, memory, and interpretation. Battlefields, memorials, cemeteries, museums, villages, and surviving landscapes become primary sources through which students examine strategy, leadership, human experience, and consequence. By engaging directly with the physical record of World War II, participants learn to connect documentary evidence with geography, question established narratives, and develop a more disciplined understanding of the past.
PREPARE » EXPERIENCE » CARRY IT FORWARD.
The academic experience begins before participants enter the historic landscape and continues after they return home. Through guided scholarship, primary-source research, and historical inquiry, participants develop the foundation needed for serious field study. In Normandy, that preparation is tested against place, evidence, and interpretation. Fellows then return prepared to translate what they have learned into classrooms, schools, and communities. The value of the program is measured not only by what participants encounter, but by the depth of their understanding and their ability to preserve, interpret, and transmit that knowledge responsibly.
OPENING ACCESS
For selected students and educators, participation is fully funded through philanthropy, ensuring that financial circumstance does not determine access to exceptional academic opportunity. Support enables Fellows to undertake rigorous World War II study, engage directly with historic landscapes and primary evidence, and return with knowledge that strengthens classrooms, schools, and communities. In this way, philanthropy does more than make participation possible; it expands access to serious scholarship and invests in the next generation of informed historical stewards.
“This experience showed me that the legacy of World War II proves freedom and leadership are inseparable—and its lessons still shape who we become.”
— James ROBERTSON, Class of 2023
