Why He Brings Kids and Cops to the D-Day Beaches
Om avsnittet
He sang the national anthem for the Colorado Avalanche a thousand times, coached 4,000 inner-city kids, lost it all, and rebuilt on the beaches of Normandy — where a WWII veteran watched children playing on Utah Beach and said through tears: "That's why we came."
Jake Schroeder—former frontman of OP Gone Bad, national anthem singer for the Colorado Avalanche, and executive director of the Denver Police Activities League—now runs the D-Day Leadership Academy, bringing inner-city youth to Normandy, France to learn leadership through the stories of World War II.
After concussions, insurance costs, and political shifts dismantled his youth sports programs serving 4,000 kids a year, Jake pivoted. Inspired by the WWII veterans he’d been bringing back to Omaha Beach and Utah Beach since 2011, he transformed his nonprofit into a Normandy-based leadership program built on five pillars drawn from D-Day: leading from the front, total commitment to mission, chaos, preparation, and empathy. In this conversation, he and host Christian Taylor—director of the award-winning documentary The Girl Who Wore Freedom—explore what success really means when the money isn’t there but the mission keeps growing.
What You’ll Learn:
- What does the D-Day Leadership Academy teach kids in Normandy?
- How do you pivot a nonprofit when your core programs collapse?
- What did WWII veterans say about people recreating on Normandy’s beaches?
- How do you define success when your documentary or nonprofit isn’t financially profitable?
- What are John Elway’s three rules for running a successful charity event?
- How does Stoic philosophy help when you’re facing failure in filmmaking or leadership?
- What documentary films should you watch? Elway to Marino, Miracle: The Boys of ’80, Cold War on Ice
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
3:07 How Christian and Jake met in Normandy, France
4:56 The Girl Who Wore Freedom documentary and shared mission
7:00 Following up on failure: Epic Bill documentary and redefining success
9:00 OP Gone Bad: the band years and when the road is worth it
11:49 Virginia Beach and the harder right vs. easier wrong
12:43 Stoicism: choosing your response vs. choosing misery
13:49 Parenting through adversity: military kids and letting go
15:06 The beach at night: perspective from the waves
17:16 Documentary filmmaking as lifelong relationship-building
18:36 Denver Police Activities League: cops coaching inner-city kids
22:00 Starting an inner-city hockey program with the Colorado Avalanche
23:56 Youth sports crisis: travel teams, concussions, gangs at games
25:19 Concussion protocol failures and insurance spikes
27:12 Shutting it all down: the painful pivot
28:04 How the Normandy leadership trips began in 2015
30:16 The D-Day Leadership Academy program today
32:11 Scholarship kids: getting passports, Richmond to Normandy
33:31 Five leadership pillars: leading from the front, commitment, chaos, preparation, empathy
34:55 Teaching chaos through the COVID-19 pandemic
36:04 Expanding into adult leadership retreats in Normandy
36:56 The magic of Normandy beyond D-Day: Vikings, Romans, food, and culture
39:35 Franco-American relations: Eisenhower's response to Charles de Gaulle
42:45 Normandy tours: culinary, yoga, classical concerts in French churches
45:13 Charity auction and The Girl Who Wore Freedom guided tour
47:55 "That's why we came": WWII veterans on children playing at Utah Beach
49:07 Message to documentary filmmakers: your film matters even without profit
51:53 John Elway's elevator advice on running charity events
54:40 Authenticity in documentary filmmaking
55:58 DocuView Deja View: Elway to Marino, Miracle: The Boys of '80, Cold War on Ice
About Jake Schroeder:
Jake Schroeder is a fourth-generation Colorado native, former frontman of the funk-rock band OP Gone Bad, and sang the national anthem for the Colorado Avalanche (NHL) over 1,000 times across 25 years. He began volunteering with the Denver Police Activities League in 1999, became executive director in 2014, and transformed the organization into the D-Day Leadership Academy—a nonprofit that brings inner-city youth, police officers, and combat veterans to Sainte-Mère-Église, Normandy, France to learn leadership through the stories of D-Day, Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, and the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. He lives in Golden, Colorado with his partner Brooke Ferguson, principal flutist of the Colorado Symphony. Website: Home | D-Day Leadership Academy
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VIRGIL FILMS LINKS:
Virgil Films (@VirgilFilms) on X
Documentary First: Conversations on Documentary Filmmaking med Christian Taylor | Documentary First finns tillgänglig på flera plattformar. Informationen på denna sida kommer från offentliga podd-flöden.