GETTING to know YOUNGSTOWN
Showing the architecture of the Judge Lambros building is Barb Loewit with the Center for Urban Studies at YSU . SHe is showing Mya Stewart and Tatyana Taylor drawings of the courthouse.
The Center for Urban Studies' Rachel Dodato, bottom left, looks at the rotunda with, clockwise from right, Rayvanne Bennett, Shamya Williams, Taia Wright, Tionia Wallace, Dawon Townsend and and their teacher Mrs. Sylvia Busby.
Field trips take third-graders on a hometown tour
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — Those city school third-graders recently seen walking around city hall and the Mahoning County Courthouse weren’t on a sightseeing trip.
They were there as the culmination of a program designed to teach them about their hometown.
“Getting to Know Youngstown in Third Grade” was launched last school year by the city school district and Youngstown State University’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies.
It’s based on the history of Youngstown, with participants getting four workbooks covering periods of Youngstown from 1800 to present day. There are various classroom activities and two field trips, the first a 19th-century trip in the fall that included visits to the old mill in Mill Creek Park, the Butler Institute of American Art to view paintings of 19th-century life and the Mill Creek gorge to learn about the work of conservationist Volney Rogers.
Last week, they took the second trip, getting a look at city hall, the Mahoning County Courthouse, Federal Plaza and the Steel Museum to get a feel for modern-day life.
Their eyes were agog as they entered the courthouse rotunda in groups of five or six and looked up at the paintings adorning the ceiling.
Their guides from the Center for Urban and Regional Studies carried information about the courthouse and asked the children questions such as what types of columns were used in the architecture and gave them details about what happens in the building.
“You come here to get a marriage license?” one young man asked, seeming to doubt one of the comments he heard.
When asked what they liked best about the building, students were quick to point up at the rotunda ceiling.
“I like all of the designs, all of it,” said Dawon Townsend as he gazed at the ornate paintings.
“I like they have the names of the towns,” said Shamya Williams, referring to the listing of Mahoning County communities around the circumference of the dome.
“And the colors,” added Tionia Wallace.
In between the field trips, the students got classroom visits from the Mahoning County Historical Society that brought artifacts early pioneers and American Indians who lived in the area might have used in their everyday lives.
The city schools and YSU are joined by Youngstown CityScape and Ronald Cornell Faniro Architect Inc. in putting the program together.
It’s part of an innovative way to implement state academic-content standards for the third grade, Pat Bradley, supervisor of social studies K-12, said when the program began. It goes beyond just talking about the community in the classroom, engaging the children in a hands-on project, she explained.
A requirement of those content standards is that children must learn about their communities — past and present.
That involves learning about the city’s history, its downtown district, architecture, government and more.
The overall project looks back to Youngstown’s beginnings as a river town and how it grew and changed, according to Holly Burnett-Hanley, a research associate with the Center for Urban and Regional Studies.
Youngstown took an interdisciplinary approach to the project, requiring the students to work in language arts, math, art, science and technology as well as social studies as they completed the curriculum.
It’s all designed to give the children, who are the future of the city, some perspective about where Youngstown came from and where it is going.
gwin@vindy.com