BEHIND THE SCENES EDUCATION TEAM

If you’ve ever taken a tour of a cultural attraction, it’s likely you’ve encountered the work of an education team. At the Wisconsin Veterans Museum (WVM), the “ed team” as they’re called by their WVM colleagues is led by Erik Wright , education specialist, with support from Beth Stofflet and Molly Snow.

As the “face” of the ed team, Erik manages the department, books talent for events, and develops programming in collaboration with several museum departments. Beth Stofflet contributes oodles of programs ideas inspired by her years as a middle school teacher. She also coordinates our volunteer corps when she isn’t with a group in the galleries. Molly Snow, known as “the rock” for her grounded approach to giving tours, coordinates travel trunk outreach materials, and manages the department’s digital content which includes every online event the museum produces. You can find her work on the museum’s YouTube channel.

This team not only plans and produces all tours at WVM, which more than 11,000 people of all ages enjoyed last year, they also develop and produce lectures, workshops, outreach, and special events. You may be familiar with some of their hits, like the annual Talking Spirits Cemetery Tours and quarterly Mess Night. With this variety of tasks to accomplish they are in constant coordination with all the museum departments as they create programs to share in-house, online, and to export across the state.

The education department at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum is capable of so many fantastic and unique endeavors that no matter how impossible or improbable a request may seem, ask the ed team anyway. Often, they will come up with a workable solution that puts Wisconsin history at the fore. The teams regularly looks for community and state-wide opportunities to export museum educational materials and raise awareness of all the museum offers.

Next time you’re on a tour, send a little thought of gratitude to the educators behind your experience.

By: Jennifer Stevenson Sr. Marketing Specialist

The Shop at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum now carries the pottery of Dave Lyons, a veteran of Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm, and retired registered nurse. Lyon attended a pottery demonstration in college while earning a registered nursing degree on the GI Bill after Vietnam. He’d served in combat hospitals with the 45th Surgical Hospital in Tay Ninh and the 12th Evac Hospital in Cu Chi.

Although he has been interested in the craft ever since he first saw the potter on campus in 1973, Lyons’ career and family obligations left him little time to get behind a wheel. Not until 2002, when he and his wife were empty-nesters did he take a pottery class at a local cultural center. With his renaissance, Lyons refined his craft, and now sells his work from his studio, The New Pittsville Pottery.

Pick up a piece of functional art and support the veteran community.

Over the last thirty years, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum (WVM) Oral History Program has come a long way. Central to the program has always been a deep respect and solid partnership with the veterans we interview. Trained volunteers further enhance that close relationship.

For three decades, volunteers have shaped and formed the bedrock of the oral history program at WVM. Though later enhanced by paid staff, without the generosity of the volunteers, this program would be much less than it is today.

The results of those efforts have been nothing short of spectacular. The museum holds the fourth largest veterans oral history collection in the United States; it is more significant than most state historical society oral history programs. The other three oral history programs preceding us in size are national-level programs.

The Wisconsin Veterans Museum Oral History Collection spans from the