Exuberant students filled the halls of Houlton Jr. Sr. High School as they arrived back from the tour of the community and surrounding areas. The “My Town” tour encompassed the last two days before harvest recess. Several weeks prior to the two-day tour, students had been researching important information about the community and surrounding points of interest. As a culminating activity the seventh grade students were divided into several groups. They visited The Cary Library, The Aroostook Historical Society and Art Museum of Houlton, several businesses in town, The Southern Aroostook Agricultural Museum and Cary Lake in Littleton. As a final activity, students met at the Temple Theater to watch “The Story of Houlton”. This video produced for Houlton’s Bicentennial, documents Houlton’s history from 1807-2007.
All seventh grade students had completed evaluation forms that asked, “What did you learn that was new?” Six students that shared their experiences about the project were: Nicole Foster, Morgan Ross, Sarah Abbotoni, Madison Black, Tracy Boynton and Amelia St. John. Here’s what these students shared from their experience.
They learned about the glass floor that was in the original Cary Library and how small the library was, before the addition was built. Several were very interested in learning about the architecture of the buildings in Houlton’s historic downtown and how much money and effort it took to build them years ago. Many did not know that fires in 1884 and 1902 had destroyed much of Houlton’s downtown and many beautiful homes. Others visiting the Pioneer Times office, were surprised to find out the paper is published in Presque Isle, not in Houlton. The students were impressed with the potato chip making process at the Frito Lay office in Houlton. Many students had not thought about the process of making a common item eaten by teenagers almost everyday. They also learned how important it was to prevent bruising the potatoes. Another interesting fact was that the Meduxnekeag River flows into Drews Lake. Several were interested in learning about Ricker Classical Institute and Ricker College. They were fascinated to learn about the eskers around the lakes in Littleton and about the glacier that covered the area, leaving rocks and minerals behind when it melted.
It was interesting to hear them almost compete with each other to prove they had learned a great deal from this community project. They were still reeling off names such as: Blackhawk Putnam, Joseph Houlton, The Hancock Barracks, The White Memorial Building, and The Gentle Memorial Building, as I finished the interview.
Just before I left they requested that I let the businesses and organizations know how they appreciated the time they took to share this information.
So thank you, community members for the giving of your time. Maybe one of these students will be working with you in the future.
