Maya Lin is a small woman who is huge in the minds and hearts of
many Americans. Even if most people don't know who she is. That
big black wall in Washington D.C. with thousands of names etched
on it? Lin created that. It's the Vietnam Veterans Memorial,
honoring the heroes of the Vietnam War. Maya Lin was 21 years
old when she designed the Wall. As a young woman, she's played a
big part in changing the way we remember the Vietnam War. Here's
how she did it. It started with a contestHow many names are on
the wall? When Lin was a senior in college, she entered a
contest to design a national memorial for the Vietnam War. So
did more than 1,400 other people! Lin worked hard for months.
She walked around the grounds for the memorial in Washington,
D.C., studying every detail. Then she spent two weeks drawing a
design that recognized the veterans of the Vietnam War by
individual name. Her hard work paid off—she won the contest!
Watch Maya Lin transform an urban park in Grand Rapids, Mich.
She turns war into life W