Since January of 2025, Islands High School Senior Holly Kachmar and her AP United States History teacher, Stephanie Lash-Freeman, have participated in the Albert H. Small Normandy Institute through George Washington University. They were one of fifteen student- teacher pairs selected for the 2025 cohort of the program. The Albert H. Small Normandy Institute at George Washington University takes high school students through an intensive program to learn about the D-Day Campaign of 1944. The Institute culminates with travel to Washington, D.C., and Normandy, France.
Over the past six months, they have learned about the 1944 Normandy invasion through a series of primary and secondary readings, virtual class discussions, lectures, and films; completed an extensive research project on a soldier from Savannah currently buried in the Normandy American Cemetery in France; and spent two weeks filled with intensive classroom and field experiences in Washington D.C. and the Normandy region of France.
As a culminating project, Holly and Mrs. Lash-Freeman worked with history professors at George Washington University, local historians and archivists, and the staff of the National Archives to prepare a biography of their soldier that will be kept in the archives of the Normandy American Cemetery at Omaha Beach.
In June 2025, following a week of lectures, and site visits in Washington D.C., Holly, Mrs. Lash-Freeman and their cohort of participants traveled to France to share their research while visiting sites critical to the Normandy Campaign. Holly delivered a presentation on the Utah Beach landings to the cohort of students, teachers, and professors while on Utah Beach. The trip culminated in Holly delivering a remembrance presentation at the gravesite of 1st Lt. Bryant Cramer, P-42 fighter pilot of whom she wrote a biography as the result of her research.
Participants stay in dorms at George Washington University while in the city. In addition to lodging, the institute covers transportation and most meals within the city, as well as the journey to France.