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| SARA Archival Manager Melissa Nesbit poses with Superintendent Dr. Bobby Hart and two high school students who recently finished research projects. |
Arkansas State Archives staff recently helped four
high school students complete history projects as part of Hempstead County bicentennial
celebrations!
“Promoting history, education, collaboration
and teamwork are vital core values of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, of
which the State Archives is a division,” said Melissa Nesbitt, archival manager
for the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives. “Not only do these projects fit
into our core values, they allow young people to experience and preserve our
history and heritage.”
Two student teams from the Environmental and Spatial
Technology (EAST) program in the Hope Academy of Public Service at Hope Public
Schools researched and compiled documents for separate projects. Teacher
Jacqueline Brady led the student research.
Students Edith Dominguez and Ana Alvarez developed a series
of oral history interviews called “Learn from Yesterday, Live for Today, Hope
for Tomorrow.” The interviews show different aspects of life in Hope and
Hempstead County from the pioneer period to today.
In the second project, students Alecia Bradley and Daniella
Vega created a PowerPoint overview, called “Hope Schools History,” that showcases
the development of public education in Hope over the past 200 years.
The “Hope Schools History” project is separate from a
similar, student-led project on Hempstead County education completed last year,
Nesbitt said. School district Communications Director Ken McLemore said the two
most-recent projects presented a broader and more modern view of history in
Hope and Hempstead County.
Copies of both projects were presented Jan. 11 to Nesbitt.
They are the only education-related student-led projects for the Bicentennial Year.
The projects will be presented to the SARA Foundation at a later date.
“These projects represent student research into an aspect of
the history of Hope and Hempstead County that will be preserved with SARA and
in the Hempstead County Bicentennial Time Capsule,” McLemore said.
For more information, contact SARA
at 870-983-2633.
