Wall of Honor Opens at Piedmont High School
The Wall of Honor at the Ambassador Christopher Stevens Library at Piedmont High School opened on Friday, September 14 at 4:30 p.m.
Announcement:
The Wall of Honor is an extension of the Ambassador Christopher Stevens Memorial Collection at the Piedmont High School Library and is part of Piedmont’s distinguished tradition of “Achieving the Honorable.” The Wall of Honor lists Piedmont Service Members who have bravely served our country in the US military and the Foreign Service from WWI to the present.
The Wall of Honor consists of three parts: a visual installation in the Piedmont High School Library, a permanent digital repository of the names of over 1,000 men and women from Piedmont who have served our country from WWI to the present, and an interactive website intended as a place where students as well as service members and their families can learn more about the service given to us by those from Piedmont.
The Wall of Honor website, www.phswallofhonor.org, has been thoughtfully designed by talented local web designer, Kristen Long of Oakland based Mighty Minnow with direction from professional museum display designer Agata Malkowski, to be a site that can grow over time as service members and their families contribute more names, service details and photographs. It is hoped that Piedmont High School students as well as community members will access and use the site as a resource of factual information and thoughtful contemplation.
A Wall of Honor planning committee has worked for the past two years with the Piedmont Unified School District (PUSD), the City of Piedmont, the Piedmont Historical Society, and the family of Ambassador Stevens to plan the project and raise the funds necessary to make it a reality.
The public may visit the Wall of Honor online at any time (www.phswallofhonor.org) or in person at the Piedmont High School Library during school hours after first signing in at the school office.
~~~~~
The following is the statement made at the opening of the Wall of Honor on Friday, September 14, 2018 .
Thank you for being here today as we officially open the Wall of Honor!
A special welcome to the Stevens Family. We are honored to have you here and it is with special consideration that we remember Ambassador Christopher Stevens on the sixth anniversary of his passing.
I, and my fellow committee members are so proud of this project for a number of reasons. First of all because the Wall of Honor fulfills a need in the school community for a place to recognize and learn more about the service provided to our country by Piedmonters from WWI to the present in the military and diplomatic service.
Inspired by Ambassador Stevens, and continuing his legacy, we hope the young people of Piedmont will use the Wall of Honor as a resource for reflection and inquiry. By doing so they will be able to share in the lessons, whether easy or hard, that military or diplomatic service can teach. Hopefully this sort of inquiry will also give our community a chance to reflect on what public service means to them and how best to incorporate it into their lives.
We believe that students, and our country will be the better for it.
Secondly, and just as important, I am proud of the collaboration and cooperation that has marked this project’s creation. Keeping in mind the school’s motto: “Achieve the Honorable”, while planning the Wall of Honor, we sought input and advice from the Stevens family, school administrators, teachers, students, the Piedmont Historical Society, the City of Piedmont, veterans and current service members. I believe the Wall of Honor that you see today truly reflects this thoughtful approach.
Along the way, we were extremely fortunate to have met Agata Malkowski, without whom this project would never have come to life. Agata is a talented and successful museum experience designer, who happens to have a soft spot in her heart for the US Marine Corps. Agata had the professional know how to take this project from an idea to reality. Thank you, Agata.
And of course, we are also extremely grateful that we had the opportunity to work with web design firm Mighty Minnow, based locally in Oakland and headed by the extraordinary Kristen Long. The Piedmont Education Foundation introduced us to Mighty Minnow, and we feel very fortunate that Mighty Minnow has applied their creativity and professional ability to the Wall of Honor website.
The Wall of Honor consists of three parts:
- A permanent digital database which can be added to over time, of the names and service details of Piedmonters from WWI to the present who have served our country in uniform and the diplomatic service.
- A physical place of inquiry and reflection that can be visited by students, teachers and the community.
- A digital repository which can grow over time, to collect the stories, memories and information about the time in service performed by Piedmonters.
In closing, I would like to share my personal aspiration for the Wall of Honor here at PHS.
The World and National news we hear today of entrenched partisan politics, global environmental concerns, mass immigration worldwide, and never ending wars can make the world seem like an unapproachable mess and it is easy to see how a student might feel that his or her individual actions would not make a difference.
Yet, as extraordinary as we feel this time is, it is certainly not unique in history. Piedmont students have faced extraordinary times since WWI and have taken the education they received here out into the broader world to help make it a better place.
Piedmont students have been fortunate since the founding of the school to be in an environment where they learn and put to use the building blocks necessary for lifelong education. Critical thinking, the capacity to care and practical know-how are tools that Piedmont students are equipped with upon graduation.
Just as Ambassador Stevens will forever be remembered for his leadership in taking these tools and using them to build better understanding and cooperation between cultures on the world stage, my hope is that the Wall of Honor will be place where Piedmont students can find a source of knowledge, strength and inspiration to go out and lead the way to make our world a safer and more caring place.
Katie Korotzer for the Wall of Honor Committee
Click photos for enlargement.
Photo Credit: Lindsay Barstow.
Pictured are Erin Pope, Assistant Principal at PHS, Kathleen Winters Wall of Honor Committee Member, Dana Lung, Judge Tom Stevens and Daughters Elena and Olivia Stevens, Mary Commanday, mother of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Adam Littlefield PHS Principal, Katie Korotzer Wall of Honor Committee Member, Amal Smith PUSD School Board Member, Randall Booker PUSD Superintendent, Terisa Whitted Wall of Honor Committee Member and Agata Malkowski Wall of Honor Designer.
Photo Credit: Lindsay Barstow.
Pictured are Agata Malkowski, Wall of Honor Designer demonstrating the Wall of Honor Website to Mary Commanday, mother of Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
This memorial project is a tribute to the Piedmonters who sacrificed their time and often their young lives in striving to sustain the highest ideals of humanity
Today I thought of 2 things that we could do to further remind all who daily walk past the family homes of all who perished in the wars, of their flesh and blood humanity: a small plaque with their names could be inserted in the pavement outside each home. Two: We could change the name of Oakland Avenue, which isn’t even in Oakland when it courses through our city, to Stevens Drive or Amb. Stevens Drive. I have suggested this in the past when I was running for City Council and think that whether or not I am elected this time, the ideas, coinciding with the newly launched Memorial, might, with heart~felt community sentiment, come to pass. Sunny Bostrom~Fleming