Two consecutive days of events at Asbury Park High School: Ghana Session with Franklin Hall and The League of Women Voters

Just recently VFW veteran Franklin Hall came to Asbury Park High School to participate in a Ghana session.

Veteran Mr. Franklin Hall comes to Asbury Park High School

Veteran Franklin Hall at Asbury Park High School

Veteran Franklin Hall at Asbury Park High School

The Ghana session happened through the partnership of Asbury Park High School and the Solid Rock Foundation School in Ghana. During this Ghana session, Mr. Hall spoke to students from Mr. Wronko’s social studies class and the students from the Solid Rock Foundation School in Ghana. Mr. Hall talked about how he was drafted into the Vietnam War and how the military transformed him into being a stronger person. He explained also the challenge of basic training and how it strengthened him not only physically but mentally. Mr. Hall then talked about his view of how the president at the time of the Vietnam War, Lyndon Johnson, was handling the war. From there, he mentioned to the students on his theory of why wars happen. He also asked the students for their interpretation on why wars take place. His theory was that wars happen because of intimidation and the obsession of power to control people.

Mr. Franklin Hall wanted to stress to the students the importance of having friends in the military especially during the time of war. The purpose of stressing this point was that in war people that were in his unit became family and family members protect one another. In addition, Mr. Hall shared with the students three books that he recommended that they should read, and they were The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler, The Down of Everything: A New History of Humanity, and Sun Tzu: The Art of War. He informed the students by reading all three books they would understand why Russia was invading Ukraine and why this war was happening.

During this session, the students from the Solid Rock Foundation School gave Mr. Hall a presentation about their continent of Africa and their country. Mr. Hall was very impressed with the students’ use of visuals and information to share their history and culture with him. In addition, the students in Ghana asked him numerous questions in regard to his military career, what he hoped to achieve in life, and what his future goals were. To conclude the session, Mr. Franklin Hall informed all the students from both schools once they all become of age to exercise their right to vote.

After the Ghana Session, Mr. Hall, like the veterans before, visited Mr. Gould’s Engineering class. Mr. Gould showed him around and shared with him all the tools and projects the students were currently working on which included a project involving the Tuskegee Airmen project.

The League of Women Voters

On the second consecutive day of events at Asbury Park High School, the League of Women, Patricia Supplee and her assistance Robin came to Mr. David Wronko’s social studies class to have the students participate in the voting rights timeline of history. The timeline Patricia Supplee presented showed voting rights from the colonial period to the American Revolution, the beginnings of the United States as a country, the American Civil War, Reconstruction, World War One and Two, Korean War, Vietnam War and Civil Rights era, and present day. All the students were given an avatar. Every avatar was different and represented a different kind of person. The students had to determine if they had the right to vote based on what era of history was presented on the timeline. The students were very engaged and learned a lot about voting rights throughout history especially how it impacted Women, Indigenous people, and African Americans.

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