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History lives at regional fair |
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Written by Pamela Roth
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Saturday, May 02 2009, 9:22 PM |
Wearing blue plastic hard hats, dirty jeans and smears of dirt on their faces to look like miners, Erikah Widmer and Justine Knox were buzzing with excitement over their school project.
For the past month, the pair of elementary students from Coalhurst have been researching the Coalhurst mine disaster on Dec. 9, 1935 to become a wealth of information about the tragic event.
Although methane had seldom been detected at the Coalhurst mine, an unexpected explosion killed 16 miners at the site. More than 200 community members gathered at the pit to see whether loved ones had survived. Knox compiled a list of the names who perished for her display.
The incident captured the attention of Widmer and Knox when they looked for a project for the Southern Alberta Regional Historica Heritage Fair. They headed to the Galt Museum to find photos and found loads of information on the Internet to put their project together. They may not exactly become future historians, but now that they have their project complete, they know a little bit of history about their hometown.
“The interesting part was just learning a little bit about our past, from where we live now and just knowing what happened,” said Widmer, 11. “There is a rock by the BMX course and if you move that rock, there is a hole and it’s a coal-mining hole.”
The pair of historic researchers were among more than 100 Grades 4 to 6 students from southern Alberta who took part in the 14th annual Southern Alberta Regional Historica Heritage Fair at Lethbridge Centre Mall on Saturday. The fair also kicked off the first day of this year’s Historic Lethbridge Festival.
The event is an opportunity for students to create any project they want on Canadian history and showcase their findings. Projects included everything from Billy Bishop, Fort Whoop-Up and the Lethbridge POW camp to Fort Calgary, and the Frank Slide.
This year’s event included 75 projects — about twice as many as the year before. Similar fairs are also being held across Canada, with the best projects from each region getting the chance to attend the 2009 National Historica Fair in Ottawa in July.
“We are developing future historians. We are teaching kids how to research and what to look for,” said event organizer Belinda Browson of the Galt Museum and Archives.
“One of the major things here is pride in Canada. These kids are getting a sense of their own history and they get the opportunity to present to the public what they learned. It’s really about grand ideas, a love of history and a pride in Canada.”
A total of 40 judges graded the students on four areas of criteria. The students were interviewed so they can talk about their project and tell the judges what they learned. Judges were also looking for research, bibliographies, if there is a local topic and how well students have used the archives.
Creativity was also a bonus, along with the overall presentation.
When it comes to presentation, 10-year-old Mariah Bergen of Coaldale gets top marks.
Her display of the old Lethbridge water tower came complete with a model of the structure and a slideshow on how it was made. Built in 1958, the old water tower held a capacity of 300,000 gallons and was sold to a developer in 2003 who turned it into a restaurant.
Bergen admits she had a little bit of help from her dad, who happens to own the water tower. But Bergen said she thoroughly enjoyed learning about a chapter in one of the city’s most recognized landmarks.
“It was interesting,” said Bergen, who started working on the project in April. “I just wanted to learn more about it.”
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