Donald
Teuma-Castelletti
SHAWVILLE May 1, 2018
Grade 11 students from Pontiac High School have been getting a hands-on lesson about the history of the region, by working on projects at the Pontiac Archives.
Close to 40 students would be learning at the archives, in an ongoing collaboration that PHS English teacher Jordan Kent has done over the last four years.
“What it gives [students] is that real-life research,” said Kent. “Coming down here gets them in contact with [Pontiac Archives volunteer] Venetia [Crawford], and the great work at the archives.”
Students are tasked with a wide amount of options while working on their research paper. They’re allowed to do the project on pretty much anything Pontiac-related, with a few exceptions that Kent has come to find over the years, based on a lack of available information.
Students would be having two scheduled visits to the archives – an initial one to find their topic and a second one to conduct further research – with the choice to continue their research there in their own time.
“They really enjoy it,” said Kent, of taking the students to the archives. “Just getting out of the classroom makes a difference.”
Before having the freedom to discover preserved maps, news articles and all kinds of other documents, Crawford gave the group an overview of the facilities available, as well as detailing some of her own research projects.
On May 1, when she first hosted the students, she was explaining the history of electricity in the Pontiac.
“I was showing them all the stuff there is in the archives,” said Crawford.
After the introduction, Crawford and two other volunteers, Dorcas Sparling and Barbara Haughton, assisted the students with finding the materials they would need, as well as how to search for the information electronically.
Crawford also shared how the archives assist her with her own research interests.
“Each time [we host students] I try to tell them about some of my projects and let them know about the historical society meetings,” said Crawford, of encouraging their further learning.
While the students were still tasked with completing a project, many seemed genuinely interested in delving into resources available physically at their fingertips, as they pored over old maps and studied strange news articles from years gone by.
“It’s more fun to come down here,” said Crawford.
