Week 1

 Hello!! Welcome to my blog about my time with the UCF Veterans' oral history project. I am an undergraduate intern working on the project and will be writing this blog to document my experiences. I am extremely excited to get started and am looking forward to the adventure that awaits me. Documenting these veterans' stories is a vital part of our history as a nation and as a community. I am honored to be able to contribute what I can. Throughout this semester, I will be posting weekly blog posts sharing my thoughts on the work that I and my fellow interns have done. However, this first week did not contain much substance, so I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself, give you all my background, and explain how I ended up here. 

My name is Matt Fedewa. I grew up in southern Michigan, and as far back as I can remember, I have always had a passion for history. I loved learning about the past and how people have survived and overcome the many challenges that humanity has faced. The past can seem like such a foreign place, but as you learn and read, you start to see that humanity is remarkably consistent. The same joys and struggles that we face in the modern world were faced by our ancestors in the past, and I found that connection both beautiful and fascinating. This passion has been a constant companion throughout my life and has impacted me greatly. After graduating from high school, I briefly attended Eastern Michigan University. I soon realized that I was running out of money and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I began to look for alternative ways of paying for school and decided to join the military. I had always been interested in the military and knew I wanted to serve at some point. I enlisted in the army in December of 2015 and shipped off to basic training 2 days after Christmas that year. I spent the next year in training and successfully graduated from the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in December of 2016 as an Army Engineer Diver 2nd Class. I served in the military for a total of 7 years, 3 months, and absolutely loved it. I was afforded many great opportunities to travel and learned a great deal. The friends and experiences I gained throughout that time were amazing, and I am beyond thankful for them. After completing my second contract, I decided I wanted to return to school and study my first love, history. I moved to Orlando, FL, in January of 2023 and began the process of getting my bachelor's degree, eventually ending up at UCF. I intend to graduate in December of 2025 and am excited to be able to participate in this internship in my last semester.    

This internship is extremely exciting to me as both a veteran and a history major. The opportunity to talk with and learn from those veterans who came before me is an amazing opportunity. Thank you to all those who are following along with this journey! I look forward to being able to share this experience with you!