York Town News
York Middle School students connect with history
By Jennifer L. Saunders
York Middle School students Tory Zeller, Randy Venenga, Stephanie Heald, Rachel Benson and Mac Poulin show off just a few of the items donated to their school, or loaned by families, to help make history come to life for local eighth graders through Lisa Graziano’s “History in Our Hands” project. Behind them is one of the display cases created through a York Education Foundation grant with a donation of materials from Eldredge Lumber and time and talent by Gary Cummings.
Photo by Jennifer L. Saunders
Eighth-grader Randy Venenga, seen here dressed in Vietnam-era military attire on loan from his father and brother for a project in his American history class at York Middle School, was one of many students in Lisa Graziano’s class who loaned or donated items as part of this year’s “History in Our Hands” project at the school.
Photo by Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - It was just about one year ago when York Middle School teacher Lisa Graziano learned her grant application to the York Education Foundation had been approved, making it possible for her to put pieces of history in her students' hands.
In fact, "History in Our Hands" is the name of Graziano's project, and about 100 eighth-grade students in her American history classes took part in the process.
With the grant award of $3,500, approved by the York Education Foundation last summer, two alcoves on either side of the entrance to the Linda Shaw Masella Library have been transformed into the York Middle School American Material Culture Museum. The cabinets were custom built by Gary Cummings, a York Middle School custodian, who donated his personal time to build the secure display cases, Graziano explained. The grant funds have also been used to acquire a collection of cultural artifacts for the museum.
Graziano's goal, as detailed in her grant application to YEF, is to create a museum of the items men, women and children would have used from the Civil War era to the last decades of the 20th century.
As part of the project, a representative from each of the five eighth-grade classes served on the Artifact Acquisition Team, which made the final decisions about the items to be included in the museum with Graziano's guidance, and, if necessary, wrote purchase orders for items found available for sale and helped seek donations from families and the community.
Graziano explained that she sent a letter home to parents seeking both ordinary and exceptional items from the years surrounding the Civil War through the 1980s, with options to either loan the items or make them a part of the permanent collection. She also urged those donating artifacts to write down all they knew about them to share with the students.
From there, Graziano and her students researched the artifacts, learning even more about the pieces - and the people who would have used them decades or centuries ago.
And the students began making connections between the past and the present.
During one of Graziano's classes last week, for example, the students got their first look at an actual woven basket used as a backpack by Viet Cong fighters during the Vietnam War.
At the same time, Randy Venenga, a student in the class, had brought in actual items worn and used by United States soldiers in the war, and the students were able to compare the simple, light basket to the heavy gear and gasmasks used by American troops.
The discussion that followed linked wars throughout history - and the struggles for any army fighting on distant soil where soldiers are not familiar with the terrain or accustomed to the climate, or able to easily replenish their supplies.
The eighth-graders made immediate connections between the American Revolution, where the colonists had the advantage of guerrilla warfare although the British had the superior weaponry, to the Vietnam War and the current war in Iraq.
Other artifacts that have prompted a wealth of research and discussions among the students include a 19th-century sword, a Nazi flag and a child's shoes from about a century ago - just to name a few.
Stephanie Heald, who loaned her great-grandfather's sword, said it was interesting to learn so much about it with her teacher. It turns out that it dates to the 1880s and is a Masonic sword, she said, showing the portion of the sword where her ancestor's name is inscribed upon it.
Her classmates agreed that artifacts like these have made studying history more interesting.
"It really brought it to life," said Tory Zeller.
And Graziano only hopes to build on this project next year, with other curriculum-related activities such as writing exercises inspired by the artifacts on display at the museum.
"My objective is to help students better understand the point of view of those living in a given era by thinking of owned objects as extensions of personal identity and culture," Graziano explained.
Do you have an item you might like to donate or lend for next year's museum? E-mail Lisa Graziano at lgraziano@yorkschools.org.
And while the current academic year is at its end, the York Education Foundation is already at work on plans for next year. The nonprofit foundation met recently to review grant applications for the school year ahead, and will soon be announcing the third round of awards to local educators. Be watching for all the details in The Independent.
