PREVIOUS PROJECTS

Listed below are abstracts of AHP projects from previous years. In most cases, AHP can provide potential participants with contacts for lead teachers on these projects – who are available to talk to you about their experience with AHP.

2006-2007 Grant Recipients

Globe High School. The history of the military in the Globe area and its impact on mining, railroads, and community-building. This project will be the first done through the Reserve Officer Training Program at a high school.

Parker High School. The relationship of the land and its use on the peoples of the Colorado River Indian Tribes (C.R.I.T.) Mohave, Chemehuevi, Hopi and Navajo. This is a major project with cooperation from Parker High School, the Parker Library, the Colorado River Indian Tribes Library, the Parker community, and AHP.

Prescott High School. By combining English and social studies into a block program, PHS teachers have a unique opportunity to involve students in recording community storytellers. They have organized the research into ‘decades projects.’ The students will record community history and help capture and preserve the cultural elements that made up the decades of the 20^th Century.

Cactus Shadows High School. Continuing what is perhaps the most impressive high school Veterans History projects in the nation, Cactus Shadows students will contact, record, transcribe and edit Veteran’s stories. The completed interviews will again be illustrated and published as Book III of, Since You Asked: Arizona Veterans Share Their Memories, archived in Arizona and at the Library of Congress.

City High School, Tucson. Having completed the first year of a project examining the history and cultural importance of buildings in downtown Tucson, the students will enlarge the project and continue to record oral and place histories. They want to know why some buildings are saved, and others torn down. They will continue recording the oral histories of building owners and managers and find stories from the history of the buildings.

Southwestern Academy - Beaver Creek Ranch Campus. In the initial year of this exciting project, Southwestern Academy students sought-out the stories of those who mapped, dug, researched, and recorded the sites of the Ancient Pueblo People, Yavapai, Apache, and others who once called the Wet Beaver Creek drainage their own. Again this year, the project includes hands-on learning and continues the process of archiving through digital storytelling.

2005-2006

City High School, Tucson. The students are engaged in a project examining the history and cultural importance of buildings in downtown Tucson. They have focused on compiling information, identifying owners and managers, and recording both oral and place histories.

Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy. Continuing the unique trust relationship with Hopi individuals, and focused upon food-cultivation and preparation techniques, the FALA students are recording the stories of Hopis. They have received direction and are building a piki oven on the grounds of the Museum of Northern Arizona. The new oven will sit next to the baking oven build by the students last year.

Thatcher High School - Discovery Park. The Gila Valley around Thatcher was once dotted with one room school houses. With unification, many of these schools, which served as community centers, were closed. Thatcher students have sought out the records of these schools and recorded the stories of people who attended them.

Cactus Shadows High School. In what is perhaps the most impressive high school Veterans History projects in the nation, Cactus Shadows students have contacted, recorded, transcribed and edited Veteran’s stories. The completed interviews are illustrated and published. The Since You Asked books are archived in Arizona and at the Library of Congress. Sale of books helps fund the project.

Southwest Academy High School. Existing in an archaeological wonderland, Southwest Academy students have sought-out the stories of those who mapped, dug, researched, and recorded the sites of the Ancient Pueblo People, Yavapai, Apache, and others who once called this land their own. The project includes hands-on learning as well as mastering the process of recording through digital storytelling.

2004-2005

Students at Cactus Shadows High School in Cave Creek researched how military veterans and their families enriched the communities of Cave Creek, Carefree, Scottsdale, and Fountain Hills. The project included interviews with veterans and their families for a DVD, book, traveling exhibit and a public presentation honoring the veterans.

Students from the American Indian Club at Casa Grande High School investigated the history and culture of the Akimel O'odham and Tohono O'odham people. The project featured interviews with elders and analysis of historical documents that were used as the basis for an exhibit.

Cesar Chavez High School in Laveen conducted research on the history of the Maricopa (Pee-Posh) pottery tradition and how it has been sustained over time. The students interviewed elders and attended pottery workshops. They produced a gallery opening at the school with an exhibit featuring their own work and that of the community artists.

Tempe’s Corona del Sol High School completed a comparative study of growth and development among ethnic neighborhoods in Tempe and surrounding communities from the 1930s onward. The project focused on the experiences of migrant workers' social, economic, and educational experiences in Tempe, and resulted in a traveling exhibit and website.

Students at the Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy examined how food-cultivation and preparation traditions have shaped Hopi community, culture, and identity. Students visited the reservation to interview elders and have learned how to repair traditional bread ovens. With tribal assistance, they constructed a traditional Hopi bread oven at the Museum of Northern Arizona.

2003-2004

Cactus Shadows High School student participants researched the Cave Creek Community Christmas Pageant’s history. The research centered around the beginning of the pageant, why it was successful, who was involved, the dynamics involved with dissolving the pageant committee, and why the pageant is no longer a tradition in the community. The school’s research resulted in the presentation of a new Christmas Pageant, and the town is considering reinstituting the event as a result of the positive public reaction.

Students enrolled in the project from Foothills Academy answered the question, “What have guest (dude) ranches continued to succeed in Wickenburg but are no longer in existence in Cave Creek?” They considered what this says about the changing nature of the recreation and entertainment economy in the communities in regards to the tourism industry. The results of their research were presented as an exhibition, displayed at the Cave Creek Historical Museum.

The student participants from Horizon Community Learning Center focused on the project, “I’tom Nawam” – “Our Roots” in Yaqui. The project documented Guadalupe’s Yaqui history, traditions, folklore, art, and contemporary community life. Most importantly, through their oral interviews with elders, students learned how their cultures, ceremonies, and traditions are passed on to future generations.

Students from the Presidio High School in Tucson contributed to the study of time-honored medicinal uses of the creosote bush by the Tohono O’odham and Yaqui tribes.

The students of Shonto Preparatory School researched the changing history in Shonto. They studied how the culture, land, people, and attitudes have changed and how the Navajo Nation has tried to create a balance over the past 100 years.

ARIZONA HERITAGE PROJECT
Sharlot Hall Museum • 415 W. Gurley St. • Prescott AZ 86301 • 928-445-3122 ext. 31