A Family's Story

Pricila J. explores her family's American story through the eyes of her grandfather.

By Pricila J. from Yreka High School in California

The author uses photos gathered from her family album, interspersed with a few images from Google as the backdrop for an interview with her grandfather, a military veteran, to explore what it means to be American and her family's American story.

Yreka High School

YHS American Creed: A Land, A Creed, A Dream

Multimedia Projects (videos) created by 11th grade students at Yreka High School in Northern California. The movies explores questions students had after watching the PBS film American Creed and captures the thoughts and feelings of individuals between the ages of 5 and 90 within our small community.

The Problematic System

Mary K., Hollie E., and Hero F. interviewed the administrator of our local hospital, Jonathon Andrus. He shared the problems with the current healthcare system and its impact on Fairchild Medical Center.

American Dreams

Nick wondered about what the American dream is and how it changes over time. He interviewed an older neighbor who had also served in the military to find answers to this question. This is Cecil's American story.

Land and the American Dream

Tycen B. and Trenton C. of Yreka High School explored the question, "How does/has land influenced your American Dream?" by interviewing three community members from different perspectives.

America Now

Students interviewed and elderly woman and a retired U.S. veteran to learn their American story. Along the way, interviewees shared their wisdom earned through many years of living the American Creed.

A Foreign Perspective on the US

A YHS student interviewed students from Spain and England while on a school exchange and asked them how they perceived the American Creed. She also asked them to share their thoughts on whether the US was succeeding as a nation.

Enforcing the Law in a United America

YHS students, Jack W., Sam V., and Will R., interviewed Yreka PD Detective Derek Duncan regarding the American Creed and whether America is really united in our modern world.

Is America Changing for the Better

As we progress as a society, we experience many changes - some of which are good, while others are bad. Miguel C., Tyler J. and Paul B. interviewed Americans who have experienced these changes first hand to find the answer to their question.

Opportunities in America

Taylor F. and Ashley F. interviewed local police chief and military veterans, Brian Bowles. They were interested in learning about his unique story and the opportunities he believed he had being American.

Dreams in America

Callie C., Trinity A. and M. Rodriquez wondered what future generations appreciate about America and what their dreams are for their future. Interviews of students in the kindergarten class at Evergreen Elementary School yielded some interesting answers about America.

The American Creed: Veteran's Perspective

A brief overview of the American Creed from the perspective of two local military veterans and whether their view of America changed over the course of their service.

Is America Succeeding?

This video answers the question "Is America Succeed?" from the perspectives of a wide range of small business owners in rural Northern California. Additionally, they all make recommendations for how we can help America be successful once again.

In Search of the American Creed

YHS students, Morgan C., Samantha B., and Louis S., interviewed local workers to determine if American is really united and identify the real American Creed.

America: Our Past Defines Our Future

These Yreka students wanted to revisit old footage to see America's origin story and to see how our story has progressed. They interviewed a local business woman to ascertain if today's American principles are the same as yesterday's.

Changes in the American Creed

Interviews of two awesome YHS history teachers with their opinion on what the American Creed is and how it has changed over time based on their knowledge of the history of the United States.

America's Challenges

Erika S. and Kaitlyn H. interviewed a local dentist, Dr. Trevor Ragan, and a local rancher, Eric Peters. They wanted to hear their perspective on how and why America is not succeeding.

More responses from California

Surprise Me

The American Creed

My response describes how their are similarities in everyone's view on the American Creed.

My American Creed

Education is full of opportunities, if we don't take advantage of them we're simply just letting them go by.

Understanding the American Creed

Four people from the interview are compared in order to understand their ideals that are present in the American Creed.

American Creed

My American Creed

American Creed

The importance of education and the different American Creed stories In the film that helps support my claim.

American Creed

The American dream is what everybody wants to have. Not everyone can achieve it because they don't have an education which is a big part of the American dream.

The Many Creeds

American Creed is different for everyone. Being American is as simple as following your dreams.

Education And The American Dream

The American Dream exists within all of us. The American Dream is not a single goal but multiple. It varies from the American Dream of Pride, the American Dream of Freedom, etc. But one of the most important assets of the American Dream is education.

My American Creed

America is portrayed as the land of the free but not many people get the freedom they need. Many groups of people are challenged in the U.S and struggle to better their lives, I believe that everyone should be given the same opportunities .

My American Creed

Community and unity are two essential values in the process of building the American dream and the American identity. They are an essential part of societies so that we can become better citizens and human beings.

The Freedom of an American

Mountain biking in Lake Forest for Good Dirt to help people in Rwanda have bikes. My grit and determination allows me to finish the 25 mile ride. Thanks to living in America, I am able to afford a nice bike, eat all sorts of food, and help others.

American creed

American dream, for people to be able to succeed if they work hard enough.

More responses about "family", "millitary", and "vietnam"

Surprise Me

My family Immigration American Creed

My paper is about my family history and how they immigrated to America in order to get hands on experience with new opportunity. I talk about their definition of American Creed and how they feel about it.

American Creed

This video is about how people should stand up for the "National Anthem."

Past to Present

My piece is a response to the second invitation, "How does your family & community history connect to your American creed?" After research and deep self-reflection, I have determined what my own American Creed is. It revolves around American principles and my family.

Restoring Our Beliefs

My grandparents have told me countless stories about them immigrating to the United States when they were seventeen. Their stories taught me about how important America's values of opportunity and equality are, and they now need to be revitalized.

What America Means to Me

I made my digital story to capture how much I appreciate what my country does. I also made it as a tribute to people in the military. My brother was in the army so it was a emotional subject. Because I connected with the topic, I think it made it so much better.

Passion

This is a story of my family history and community who inspire my personal American creed. More specifically, I am grateful for my parents for raising me up as close as they did. Thank you and enjoy!

My American Creed

This piece is about how I interpret my American Creed, and how my family and their history has helped me come to my conclusion of it.

How Family History Connects to My American Creed

The Stories of how my family's achievement have helped to get me where I am today.

On Military Service & Success

Success in America can be achieved in many ways. One large foundation for success is the Military. My family has lived up to the idea of personal success through the military. Their stories speak for themselves.

My Identity Story

This is my identity story on how my ancestors came over to the United States. I'm showing how I ended up where I live today and showing how we all can come from different places and still end up at the same high school.

From Discrimination to Immigration; My Jewish American Creed

In order to understand how my family has affected the way I view my own American creed, I conducted interviews with my mother, father, and grandmother. Ultimately my goal was to figure out, connect, and contrast on how my family history has affected my American Creed.

American Creed - Diversity

My American creed is to be a real American, one needs to live to their full potential and strive to be the greatest they can be. My interview with my parents, about their different cultures, helps me understand how they are the American they are today.

Perseverance and Our American Creed

This explains how perseverance is a key topic in our American creed.

American Creed

The importance of small town events and impacting others.

Dear Grandpa

Years after my grandfather passed away I have written a letter to him explaining how his stories have changed my life.

Immigration

A family's Immigration story.

Important Words from American Creed

These are my creations for the Line and Caret and Phrankenword activities to respond to the film American Creed

Experiences Shaping Americans

Ones own idea of their American Creed is greatly shaped on their community and family and, most of all, experiences. Experiences shape each individual in different ways and below you will see a few specific contrasting factors that shape certain individuals as American's.

How does your family & community history connect to your American creed?

My Paper outlines my families history and how their experiences have impacted me or how I hope they will end up impacting me, And how their different journies have affected me.

How does your family and community history connect to your American Creed?

My piece is about how my family history connects to my American creed, and I put my mother and my father's experiences and efforts to be in the United States. Therefore, I explained how their hard work shaped me into the person of who I am today, to work hard in life.

My American Creed

I love to be American creed like home, school, football, freedom, and family. These things make me a American.

American Creed

People say they want the American dream but what happens if the dream doesn't turn out to be good?

How do Diverse Americans Understand the American Creed?

We might not agree on everything, even if it's with our own family. However, we can and should understand what people of other views than us think. But, a lot of the times we don't. We need to fix that.

My American Creed

Summary: This poem is about how my family has served as Americans and as members of the community and how we plan to keep serving as Americans.

Writing Our Future: American Creed is part of the National Writing Project’s family of youth publishing projects, all gathered under the Writing Our Future initiative.

Writing Our Future projects are designed by educators for educators and the young people they work with. Intended for use in schools, libraries, and other educational settings. All projects are COPPA compliant and educator-managed. NWP is committed to supporting young people’s writing and civic participation by providing a safe and supportive environment for youth writing, media creation, sharing, and publishing.