August 12th, 2018
21ST CENTURY CLASSROOM
Humanities camp explores mysteries
By TESS BASHAW and VERONICA PALLAS
Special to the Messenger
ST. ALBANS — Nineteen St. Albans City School students, two staff members and one student assistant (a volunteer from BFA) participated in Humanities Camp the last two weeks of July.
These adventures and investigations were funded by a grant from the Vermont Humanities Council. The Humanities Council is a nonprofit organization that works to ensure that students and adults in Vermont read, participate in public affairs and become lifelong learners.
St. Albans City School has been a recipient of this grant for over a decade now and every summer affords the opportunity to allow a new group of students the chance to explore a new topic.
This year’s camp theme was “Mystery.” The Humanities Council provided students with several books and funding for a field trip that took them off campus. The goal of the camp was to give students the chance to really stop and reflect on what a mystery is, where we encounter mysteries in our daily lives, as well as how archaeology and history are an exploration of the mysteries of the past.
Students in this year’s camp explored the link between archaeology and mystery when they dug for fossils in a simulated dig site and explored clues found in a simulated cave site. They were able to talk, write and investigate their beliefs about the supernatural and even went on a ghost hunt to investigate Vermont’s historic, popular and said to be haunted: Emily’s Bridge in Stowe. They also walked to the St. Albans Historical Society to explore the displays there and gather information about the past to use in their own mystery writing.
As well as looking at the past, and talking about historical events, students meet with one of Vermont’s own authors, Bill Schubart. Schubart was willing to take time out of his schedule and come have a sit down with our students. He spoke to them about life in Vermont and life as a writer, as well as talking about community and the importance of place in writing.
Students in Humanities Camp, thanks to the Humanities Council, each received and used as their focus book the mystery novel, “Behind the Curtain” by Peter Abrahams. This mystery provided them with a framework to work on their deductive skills. Paired with the Mystery story “Eleventh Hour” by Graeme Base, the students found themselves motivated to learn about cyphers, create their own cypher wheels and use them to decode daily clues. Teacher Veronica Pallas said, “I love this camp because I get the chance to just play and do what the kids are doing.”
As the week came to an end students created and shared some of their own writing, and finally, attended a murder mystery luncheon where they took on the roles, and donned the robes, of a group of wizards faced with a mystery that needed to be solved.
Humanities Camp is a tradition at City School that students and staff look forward to every year. It provides students and staff the opportunity to explore a topic while developing deeper connections to and understanding of their history, community, each other and themselves. --Tess Bashaw and Veronica Pallas are teachers at St. Albans City School
Humanities camp explores mysteries
By TESS BASHAW and VERONICA PALLAS
Special to the Messenger
ST. ALBANS — Nineteen St. Albans City School students, two staff members and one student assistant (a volunteer from BFA) participated in Humanities Camp the last two weeks of July.
These adventures and investigations were funded by a grant from the Vermont Humanities Council. The Humanities Council is a nonprofit organization that works to ensure that students and adults in Vermont read, participate in public affairs and become lifelong learners.
St. Albans City School has been a recipient of this grant for over a decade now and every summer affords the opportunity to allow a new group of students the chance to explore a new topic.
This year’s camp theme was “Mystery.” The Humanities Council provided students with several books and funding for a field trip that took them off campus. The goal of the camp was to give students the chance to really stop and reflect on what a mystery is, where we encounter mysteries in our daily lives, as well as how archaeology and history are an exploration of the mysteries of the past.
Students in this year’s camp explored the link between archaeology and mystery when they dug for fossils in a simulated dig site and explored clues found in a simulated cave site. They were able to talk, write and investigate their beliefs about the supernatural and even went on a ghost hunt to investigate Vermont’s historic, popular and said to be haunted: Emily’s Bridge in Stowe. They also walked to the St. Albans Historical Society to explore the displays there and gather information about the past to use in their own mystery writing.
As well as looking at the past, and talking about historical events, students meet with one of Vermont’s own authors, Bill Schubart. Schubart was willing to take time out of his schedule and come have a sit down with our students. He spoke to them about life in Vermont and life as a writer, as well as talking about community and the importance of place in writing.
Students in Humanities Camp, thanks to the Humanities Council, each received and used as their focus book the mystery novel, “Behind the Curtain” by Peter Abrahams. This mystery provided them with a framework to work on their deductive skills. Paired with the Mystery story “Eleventh Hour” by Graeme Base, the students found themselves motivated to learn about cyphers, create their own cypher wheels and use them to decode daily clues. Teacher Veronica Pallas said, “I love this camp because I get the chance to just play and do what the kids are doing.”
As the week came to an end students created and shared some of their own writing, and finally, attended a murder mystery luncheon where they took on the roles, and donned the robes, of a group of wizards faced with a mystery that needed to be solved.
Humanities Camp is a tradition at City School that students and staff look forward to every year. It provides students and staff the opportunity to explore a topic while developing deeper connections to and understanding of their history, community, each other and themselves. --Tess Bashaw and Veronica Pallas are teachers at St. Albans City School