06 · Higher Education Resiliency Operation
A case study in how to activate the H.E.R.O. gene in every student: film, a museum-grade mini-exhibit and a speaker's bureau, delivered through military observance days, student assemblies and JROTC.
The why
Service and sacrifice is the through-line from 1776 to today.
The H.E.R.O. Project was created by Dakar Foundation apprentices in 2023. Its premise is the one this whole site is built on: the men who wore two uniforms served a country that had not yet kept its promises to them, and they kept theirs anyway. That is the H.E.R.O. gene — Higher Education Resiliency Operation — and the project’s bet is that every student carries it.
The delivery is proven, not proposed: H.E.R.O. workshops for service-disabled veterans and wounded warriors; livestreamed Veterans Day screenings and Q&A for LAUSD, Compton and Los Angeles community colleges; a curriculum written for For Love of Liberty and distributed to thousands of classrooms and to U.S. Army battalions for morale and retention. The films, the panel, the speaker’s bureau and the mini-exhibit on this page are how that work travels.
As told by Kevin Clark, 7 Sep 2026 · Dakar Foundation proposal, November 2024 · track record on the About page
In development
- The Fallen 66[verify]for Memorial Day
- Homage to the Fallen 89 — mini-docfor Black History Month
- Memorial Day 2026 curricula + promotional trailerMemorial Day 2026
- Tuskegee Airmen Fallen Roll Callin development
The Fallen 66 is slated to feature exclusive interviews with George Lucas [verify — footage/agreement not yet seen]. No dates are promised; releases are announced through the Foundation.
The capstone · in the classroom
Make the next one yourself.
YOUTUBE · KEVIN CLARK
Victory by Valor 2
The AI cut.
Victory by Valor 2 is the same story cut with AI tools. It is on this page rather than with the films on purpose: it is the assignment, not the archive.
A student who has sat through the assembly, argued in the panel about what a hero is and worked the timeline has the material. The capstone asks them to build something with it — a vignette, a cut, a tribute to a name they found themselves — and gives them a finished example to measure against.
It is not the first piece this program has produced. The Executive Order 9981 sizzle on the films page was made by Dakar apprentices and edited by Damone Williams Jr.
The mark
H.E.R.O.® — the Higher Education Resiliency Operation.
H · Higher E · Education R · Resiliency O · Operation
The phoenix on the chest is the campaign’s gold — the same gold that runs through this site. The dog-tag O carries the caduceus: service, and the resilience to come back from it.
Logo © Dakar Foundation · supplied by Kevin Clark
of Americans have never served — the audience the campaign asks "why do I care?" (proposal)
pieces in the Buffalo Soldiers exhibit shown at the Schomburg Center
the age band of the air/ground classroom activations
The programs
Eight ways in. One question.
01Student assembly screenings
Short stories captured as "Did-You-Know" vignettes, screened for students at assemblies and delivered through social media. The revelation that household names had a little-known second life in the military opens the conversation.
02Did-You-Know vignettes
One-minute films — Lt. Jackie Robinson, tank commander of the 761st; Pvt. Joe Louis; Sgt. Sugar Ray — built for a phone screen and a classroom projector alike.
03JROTC programming
Classroom activations for ages 16–24 that connect local outreach programs, instructors and students, and drive two-way communication about careers, benefits and service.
04The panel: what is a Hero?
A discussion supported by the vignettes that challenges students to define a hero — and to find the hero within. Students present their own acts of heroism as class assignments and competitions.
05Curriculum for educators
A lesson plan and curriculum that fuels the interactive military timeline with guided resources from the For Love of Liberty curriculum, for students who may never have been touched by the story of service and sacrifice.
06Speaker's bureau
Hall of Fame athletes, historians and Brig. Gen. Arnold Gordon-Bray (Ret.) in customizable, moderated conversations with a showcase of rare media, captured live for streaming and packaged as a reusable library.
07Interactive veteran interviews
StoryFile-style conversations with living legends and veterans — such as Romay Davis of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion — that answer students' questions in the veteran's own recorded voice.
08The mini-exhibit
Military memorabilia bundled with the vignettes: a museum-grade mini-exhibit that travels with the program, in the tradition of the 2,000-piece Buffalo Soldiers exhibit shown at the Schomburg Center.
The proposal · November 2024
Victory by Valor — an integrated strategy of film, museum and speaker bureaus.
The Dakar Foundation’s strategic-partnership proposal describes the vignette series, the Buffalo Soldier feature concept and the StoryFile collaboration. Every program on this page is drawn from it.