In the winter of 2011, this author was working late in her classroom at Central Bucks High School West in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, when she opened an email offering a summer institute where 15 teachers would walk the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. The catch--each teacher had to bring one high school student. The Albert Small Student/Teacher Institute--Normandy: Sacrifice for Freedom was inaugurated by National History Day (NHD) in June of 2011. Albert H. Small, a noted businessman, philanthropist and veteran, had long had the desire to create a program that would inform younger generations of the sacrifices made by his generation during World War II, and in particular during the D-Day Invasion. In 2010, Mr. Small turned to NHD, an innovative curriculum of student-driven research projects, to plan and implement such a program. Each year, 15 students and 15 teachers are selected in a national competition for the extensive learning experience. In June, this group of students and teachers is transported first to Washington, D.C., and then to Normandy, France, for an unparalleled opportunity of in-depth learning. Participants in the Institute gain not only a better understanding of World War II, but a greater appreciation of our country's role and the sacrifices that were made for freedom. Teachers and students prepare for this trip with reading assignments, participation in discussion boards, and studying the Normandy campaign through a series of lenses. In addition, each student chose an individual from his or her home state or territory who fought in the campaign and is buried in the American Cemetery above Omaha Beach in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. This assignment allowed each student to study the campaign through the eyes of one soldier or sailor. Students "adopted" these men and researched their lives. Reading history is powerful, but standing in the place where it happened offered an added dimension of authentic geographic, tactile, and spatial learning experiences. On Omaha Beach, in the shadow of the fortified bunkers and the machine gun nests, students listened and learned in a very different way than in the classroom. When these American teenagers saw the place and felt the waves on the shore, the Normandy Invasion became understandable in a way that is impossible to achieve in a classroom alone.