bvelliquette@heraldsun.com; 419-6632
CHAPEL HILL -- Bill Melega, a Chapel Hill High School history teacher who travels the world to bring history alive for his students, was named the high school Teacher of the Year by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
The national headquarters of the VFW announced the award Monday. Melega represented the state of North Carolina in the contest after the local post, VFW Post 9100 in Chapel Hill, selected him as its representative in the statewide contest, and he won that.
Melega's application included a documentary film he made about Pearl Harbor.
"I found out Pearl Harbor is not as well known as it should be by modern students," Melega said.
In his teachings, he compared Pearl Harbor to the 9-11 terrorist attacks, explaining to the students that while they watched everything on television, their grandparents huddled around radios to hear about the attack on Pearl Harbor.
In his research, Melega learned five men from Chapel Hill were at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked, so he applied for and obtained a grant from the historical society to travel to Pearl Harbor.
"I spent four and a half days touring the site," he said. "I even did a live class from the Navy Satellite Center for 800 students back here at Chapel Hill High School."
With the video he took while at Pearl Harbor, he then created a 41-minute documentary in the style of the History Channel, in which he mixed the footage he shot, archival information and a personal narrative.
Melega also takes his students on field trips, both locally and afar.
"We went over to England and France and followed the route of the U.S. troops on the D-Day invasion," he said.
He also takes his students to Civil War battlefields and lines them up on the battlefield so they can imagine what it must have been like for the real soldiers.
"I think the only way to understand history is to live it and see it and smell it and touch it," he said.
Melega teaches 190 students in the three courses he teaches -- World History for ninth-graders, AP World History for 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders, and an honors class, Great American Conflicts, for 11th- and 12th-graders.
Melega won a $1,000 donation to his individual professional development account and another $1,000 for Chapel Hill High School, as well as a trip to Washington, D.C., to participate in the VFW National Legislative Conference in March.
