Last week was the ‘final’ week as an intern at the memorial and it was more than I could ask for. I have given several field trips and tours at this time of the semester but Thursday was my absolute best day ever. We had Curtis Baptist Middle School from Augusta, Georgia come and take my tour. The kids were engaged, were intelligent, and went through what ended up being a two hour tour! I had such a fantastic time walking them through the tracks of history and allowing them to critically think about the content I was laying out. The parents were just as excited and intrigued. This trip was the first time many of them had been to the memorial and they were all so willing to learn and discuss World War II and D Day at large. At the end of the tour something very unexpected happened: they gave me a 100 dollar tip. Of course I did not accept the tip, but they were so ecstatic to have a college kid ‘paying it forward’ and ‘keeping the flame’. I never thought of my internship that way. Keeping the flame. I love it! Most of the tour guides there are rather old and they will not be around forever but very few tour guides around my age exist for the memorial other than the occasional intern. Etching in stone the history you want repeated does no good if there is no one to read it. Perhaps my purpose in life is to etch my own stone while reading those of the past. Is that not every historians job and purpose? I am so glad to have done this internship even if it wasn’t what I expected. I will be continuing my work at the memorial in the years to come and will hopefully inspire that next young kid to read my etched stone.