Alaska students will spend the year researching the veterans buried at Fort Richardson

Alaska high school and college students will spend the coming academic year researching the veterans interred or memorialized at Fort Richardson National Cemetery — piecing together their lives, their communities, and the history of military service in Alaska — and turning that work into a campus memorial, a walking tour of the cemetery, and public tributes online.

The project pairs dual-enrolled high school students and University of Alaska Anchorage undergraduates with UAA faculty mentors. Beyond the research itself, it promises a dedicated memorial on the Anchorage campus where students can display their findings and campus veterans can gather, a series tied to the VA's online Veterans Legacy Memorial, and a walking tour for cemetery visitors.

The work is funded by a $325,000 federal grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs' National Cemetery Administration, through its Veterans Legacy Program, which pays for student research, curriculum and public memorialization tied to VA cemeteries. UAA's is one of eight such grants awarded nationally this cycle — the third largest, and the only one in Alaska.

Fort Richardson National Cemetery sits on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and became a national cemetery in 1984. By then, all but 700 of its 2,000 gravesites had been used or reserved, according to the VA's cemetery history. Because the cemetery is on an active military base, public access is limited: a May base release for the Memorial Day ceremony noted that outside listed hours, U.S. citizens 16 or older seeking entry should expect a background check and, once cleared, a visitor pass.

The award record does not yet name a faculty lead or a target number of students.