Preserve WV Stories

MEET THE AMERICORPS – SYDNEY

3/29/2017

Hi all! My name is Sydney Stapleton and I am from Oak Hill, Ohio and I am the full time Preserve West Virginia AmeriCorp member at the Harrison County Historical Society in Clarksburg, West Virginia. I graduated with a B.A. in Anthropology with a focus in archeology from Ohio University in August of 2016. I also have a minor in History and certificates in both Museum and European Studies.

I was able to have many opportunities at Ohio University. This summer I worked archeological dig in Wayne National Forest near Athens, Ohio. My final spring semester I also was able to create an exhibit at the Kennedy Art Museum at Ohio University, along with the rest of my Museum Studies class. Depending on each student’s interests, we selected to participate in a specialist group correlating with museum departments and staff positions. These included education, design, and registration/installation. I was a part of the registration/installation group where I worked hands on with the objects for the exhibit and the installation process. It was a great experience where I was able to really learn all that goes into getting an exhibit completed from start to finish. I also worked in the Digital Archives at Alden Library at Ohio University where I gained experience with photo digitization, working with online archives, and using social media for historically organizations. Lastly, I held a semester long internship at the Athens County Historical Society and Museum in Athens, Ohio. There I had hands on training with historical objects, including textile, photos, and paper documents

HAPPY RETREAT’S GRAND IDEA PROJECT

3/24/2017

By Mercy Klein, Preserve WV AmeriCorps

Charles Washington’s Happy Retreat has come a long way since it was selected in 2010 for PAWV’s Endangered Properties List. At the time of its listing, the nonprofit Friends of Happy Retreat (FOHR) group was working with the owners of the property to acquire and preserve it for public use. In 2015, after a 10-year, uphill effort, FOHR and the City of Charles Town were finally able to purchase the 12.3-acre property. FOHR’s goal has been to restore the property and repurpose the home as an historical, cultural, and educational community center and heritage tourism attraction. FOHR and the city intend to establish Happy Retreat as the area’s go-to hub for arts, culture, learning, and regional tourism – a plan they have dubbed “The Grand Idea Project.”

REFLECTING ON THE DUNBAR SCHOOL PROJECT

3/24/2017

By Mercy Klein, Preserve WV AmeriCorps

November 2015 About a year before I became an AmeriCorps member, I was introduced to the Dunbar School while I was volunteering as a community member with Lynn Stasick, PAWV’s Field Representative. She was conducting an AmeriCorps training at the school on how to perform historic site evaluations and Prioritized Needs Assessments. Fortunately, I decided to tag along that day as an interested observer. Who would have known that a year later I would become an official AmeriCorps member whose first big project was to organize a Day to Serve Civic Service Project at the Dunbar School!

When I think back to that day of my first visit to Dunbar School, one of the things that made an impression on me was listening to Houston Richards and Charlotte Meade (members of the Dunbar School Foundation) speak about what the Dunbar School meant to them. They spoke of the memorable times and the friendships that developed during their attendance there as students. By the tone of their voices, I could really feel just how important it was for them to preserve this school and thus their memories of their time there.

MEET THE AMERICORPS – SYDNEY

HAPPY RETREAT’S GRAND IDEA PROJECT

REFLECTING ON THE DUNBAR SCHOOL PROJECT

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