Invisible Histories Uncovered by High School Students
History is one of those subjects where real-world applications can sometimes appear elusive, especially when you’re stuck in an American history class reviewing information you already learned.
For a group of incoming high school students, history was made more personal by looking at how history influences potential use of land when looking to redevelop dilapidated or vacant properties.
Making Invisible Histories Visible is an Omaha Public Schools initiative backed by the Sherwood Foundation that introduces historical thinking and research through a series of field trips and a group project to propose how to transform an actual Omaha property, complete with a business plan.
“Kids have to find historically significant places in Omaha and the history of those places,” said project director Emily Brusch
The students identify historically significant places in Omaha and then seek out the history of those places by examining documents, interviewing community elders and discovering historical artifacts. The final product of the summer program is a digital history website with their findings.
The program also helps teachers gain insight into how to bring the history of underrepresented groups into their classrooms.
“It’s as much for the teachers participating as it is for the kiddos that are here,” Brusch said.
Business partnerships help to bring students out of the classroom and into the community.
One of the students’ stops on their Invisible Histories tour of Omaha was at Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture, where they learned about historical restoration and worked alongside architects to envision different ways that they could transform spaces.
Architects help plan how to use space, architect Jennifer Honebrink told the assembled students.
“I have a passion for old buildings,” Honebrink said. “A vacant building is not an opportunity to tear it down and start new. I feel like it’s an opportunity to build on our past and what was there.”
This year’s focus for Invisible Histories was on former streetcar hubs, said Burke High School economic and modern world history teacher Christina Collins. The summer camp also looked at economic development, reflecting the investment currently underway across the Omaha area.
“A big push for the program has always been historical thinking,” Collins said.
The students came up with a new business they could bring to the former streetcar hub – something that would fulfill a need, help improve the community but would also still be profitable.
They also discussed the realities that can obstruct investment, so they understood the social history that went into shaping the spaces they were redeveloping.
“We looked at redlining maps and how business investment is rated in different neighborhoods,” Collins said.
Collins said students pitched a used bookstore that represented many cultures, a second-hand goods store and a social hall for weddings and graduation parties.
For Eva Ellefson, a freshman at Omaha South High School, the Invisible Histories experience was an opportunity to connect more fully with Omaha’s history.
Ellefson said she learned about gentrification, and how it carries both positive and negative connotations for community, as she explored options for the former North Star Theater site near 24th Street and Ames Avenue.
“The decline I feel really had something to do with when families started moving to suburbs,” Ellefson said. “It definitely is just a place that I feel like people don’t want to go to. To change it, you could put in more spaces that everyone would want to go to.”
She suggested a coffee shop – a strategy on display at the Highlander project near 30th and Lake streets – might be a good addition to the churches, community centers and gardens in the area.
Ellefson said the field trips and lessons she learned this summer went beyond the traditional textbook-driven approach to history.
“It just seemed like a really great way for me to learn more about Omaha,” Ellefson said. “I feel like in schools, we don’t really learn about where we live, and it’s important to know about where you’re living.”
For more on the program, including previous student projects, visit invisiblehistory.ops.org.
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