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Living
History:
A Campus Partnership |
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| On Friday, May 20, at 2 p.m., the Valley Catholic School gymnasium came alive with history as students from Valley Catholic Middle School and Little Flower Development Center pay tribute to residents of Maryville Nursing Home. In addition, middle school students displayed the life skills they learned from partnering with Sisters from St. Mary's campus. |
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Throughout the school year, 56 eighth grade students, 24 students aged three to five from Little Flower Development Center (the campus preschool) and 29 Maryville residents have been meeting on a weekly basis. The students have gathered information to transform into keepsakes that reflect and present each Maryville resident's life history and character as the team of students has come to know them through their visits and conversations. |
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| The purpose of the project is to provide our students with a real-world opportunity to use interviewing and note-taking skills, as well as to use their computer knowledge to add a more professional look to their final project. A scrapbook consultant helped teach the students layout and design. Additionally, students have the opportunity to develop a relationship with the residents, learning how to recognize and appreciate the wisdom that the residents can offer. |
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New this year, seventh grade students spent part of the year in a classroom setting, learning the history of the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon . The other part of the year took place in small group settings paired with a Sister, getting to know her and learning a life skill from the Sister. Students presented what they learned as part of the living history event on May 20. |
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| "It's a chance for students to get a sense of history - both from the residents of Maryville and the campus where they go to school," explains Jennifer Gfroerer, Dean of Valley Catholic Middle School. "They learn so many skills through these interactive projects - interviewing, business letter writing and life skills." |
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Gfroerer, who resurrected the living history program based on her experiences with a similar living history project with Maryville Nursing Home when she was a student on the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon campus, noted, "The addition of the Sisters' life skills project ties nicely with the kind of learning and bonding that takes place between Maryville residents and our students."
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