Getting the Kids involved

In July, we met with parents, teachers and school administrators at Belding Library to canvass possibilities for getting school children, teachers and administrators involved in the Ashfield History Project. The curriculum (“teaching to the test”) puts some limits on what we can accomplish during school hours, but those at the meeting were creative in thinking “outside the box.”

One idea that emerged was to set up an announcement board in the lobby of Sanderson Academy and advertise for “help wanted.” Last month in this column, we listed some of the ways students could join the Project: helping families sort through old boxes of letters, photos and other mementos; indexing old newspapers; interviewing older residents. On the board at Sanderson (and perhaps Mohawk), we will post specific assignments and invite students to reply. It might provide ways for students to learn specific skills from knowledgeable adults: working with Dave Fessenden operating video and other photographic equipment, with Phyllis Kirkpatrick and Don Robinson conducting an interview.

Another idea for welcoming children into the process was to invite them into conversation with older residents. We will offer the first of these conversations at the South Ashfield Library at 5 PM on Sunday, August 12. It will be entitled "When I was 10 in Ashfield."

Residents who grew up here will be invited to reminisce about summer days, school days, what you did on Saturdays, where you went sledding, how you spent time with your best friend, and any other memories that might illuminate our recent history and inspire today's kid-generation to do further interviews and written comparisons to their own lives.

We are hoping to have someone of somewhere-around-60 years old, a fifty-something year old, someone in their forties, a thirty year old, a twenty year old and a real live present day ten year old! (As you probably know, the new book will cover Ashfield history from 1960 to the present.)

If you think you'll be there, it would be great for us to know ahead of time. Please call Christina Gabriel, who is organizing the event, at 628-0204. It will be fun to get a picture of Ashfield from a child's perspective through the decades. PLEASE JOIN US, to share or just to listen, at the South Ashfield Library (corner of 116 and Burton Hill Road) on Sunday, August 12th at 5:00. Refreshments will be served!

by Don Robinson