Melissa Baker, museum educator.
(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
March 22, 2013 - 2:18 PM
By Jennifer Stahn
As part of the bicentennial last year students were asked to submit projects and artwork based on their research and perspectives of Kamloops history and next week the interpretive history book will be launched.
Museum educator Melissa Baker explains the process for creating A Children's History of Kamloops included a class from Bert Edwards Science and Technology School as well as heritage group and any members of the public that chose to submit drawings, essays and stories.
Baker says organizers then paired up essays and stories with corresponding information from their archives. While not all the pieces by the students are factual, they are the child's interpretation of history and got the children interested in Kamloops history, which was the goal of the project according to Baker.
“It was great to see families get involved,” she said, and several grandparents have told her they were excited to see their grandchildren willingly learning about the history of the city.
Overall Baker is very happy with the resulting book, even though it took a little longer to compile everything than they originally hoped. She is proud of all the work the kids did to help make this project a reality and says it is impossible to choose a favourite topic or picture.
The children were given free reign to write about what interested them and as a result the 94-page book covers many topics and is sectioned in to three chapters linking related topics. The books are available at Kamloops Museum and Archives and the official book launch will take place next Thursday, March 28, at Bert Edwards school at 8:45 a.m.
Kamloops bicentennial took place last year and the city celebrated the theme of “2Rivers, 2 Peoples, 200 Years” with numerous activities over the course of the year.
To contact a reporter for this story, email jstahn@infotelnews.ca or call (250) 819-3723.
News from © iNFOnews, 2013