Students unite to bring history back into reach October 6, 2008, ASHLEY KINDERGANSTAFF WRITER (The Record) Paying a visit to the Steuben House in River Edge to see a doll dating back to 1670 or a Native American canoe unearthed in Hackensack 140 years ago used to be a field trip staple for local elementary schools.
But ever since an April 2007 flood damaged many of the artifacts in the house, the Bergen County Historical Society has kept the pieces of history in a flood-proof storage place.
This year, River Edge elementary school students who cannot visit the artifacts will instead be raising money to help build a new home for them in a brand-new museum modeled after an old mill that used to stand in Oradell.
Anthony Vouvalides, principal of the Roosevelt School, is spearheading an initiative to raise money through coin drives, bake sales and other fund-raisers for the Bergen County Historical Society to build a new museum at the New Bridge Landing Historic Park.
"We in River Edge had always used the Steuben House to bring kids down and talk about Colonial history and American history," Vouvalides said. "There is unbelievable history that people don't know about, and that people need to see, and be a part of."
This summer, several River Edge students filmed an informational video called "
Forward to the Past," intended to explain the project to Bergen County schools and corporate sponsors that Vouvalides and the Historical Society hope will pitch in to help the project.
Vouvalides will show the video to other school principals at the Oct. 14 meeting of the Bergen County Elementary & Middle School Administrators Association.
That will kick the fund-raising process off in earnest, but there have already been small efforts. Last year, fourth- and fifth-grade classes raised nearly $1,000 in donations.
Kevin Wright, secretary of the New Bridge Landing Park Commission, said the commission is hoping to raise $2.5 million to build, furnish and operate the museum.
"Half is anticipated for construction and half for operational costs," Wright said.
The museum is one part of a comprehensive effort to enhance the historic park where George Washington and his troops safely retreated from the British at a critical point in the Revolutionary War.
The state Department of Environmental Protection is scheduled to begin remediating a contaminated portion of the site that used to house a pizza parlor and junkyard, and also has plans to build a visitor's center at the park.
Mary Miller, a fourth-grade teacher at Roosevelt Elementary, has been working with Vouvalides to coordinate the fund-raising effort. She said that the educational value for her students in seeing history come alive is irreplaceable.
"Several years back, they had an old medical kit," Miller said. Wright, the commission secretary, "pulled out an awful-looking tool that was used to remove teeth. One of the boys immediately put his hand to his jaw. I thought, ‘Wow, that's a connection with the past. This fourth-grader can relate to someone who underwent a tooth extraction.' "
Miller hopes that the exercise of raising money will also teach students that they have the power to make a difference.
"This is something that's very large, but small enough that the children have a connection to it," Miller said. "If enough people do this thing, we can have a change happen."
Paying a visit to the Steuben House in River Edge to see a doll dating back to 1670 or a Native American canoe unearthed in Hackensack 140 years ago used to be a field trip staple for local elementary schools.
Students from Roosevelt Elementary School in River Edge wearing the period garb they used in a video to support a fund-raising effort for a museum where artifacts from the Steuben House can be displayed. But ever since an April 2007 flood damaged many of the artifacts in the house, the Bergen County Historical Society has kept the pieces of history in a flood-proof storage place.
This year, River Edge elementary school students who cannot visit the artifacts will instead be raising money to help build a new home for them in a brand-new museum modeled after an old mill that used to stand in Oradell.
Anthony Vouvalides, principal of the Roosevelt School, is spearheading an initiative to raise money through coin drives, bake sales and other fund-raisers for the Bergen County Historical Society to build a new museum at the New Bridge Landing Historic Park.
"We in River Edge had always used the Steuben House to bring kids down and talk about Colonial history and American history," Vouvalides said. "There is unbelievable history that people don't know about, and that people need to see, and be a part of."
This summer, several River Edge students filmed an informational video called "Forward to the Past," intended to explain the project to Bergen County schools and corporate sponsors that Vouvalides and the Historical Society hope will pitch in to help the project.
Vouvalides will show the video to other school principals at the Oct. 14 meeting of the Bergen County Elementary & Middle School Administrators Association.
That will kick the fund-raising process off in earnest, but there have already been small efforts. Last year, fourth- and fifth-grade classes raised nearly $1,000 in donations.
Kevin Wright, secretary of the New Bridge Landing Park Commission, said the commission is hoping to raise $2.5 million to build, furnish and operate the museum.
"Half is anticipated for construction and half for operational costs," Wright said.
The museum is one part of a comprehensive effort to enhance the historic park where George Washington and his troops safely retreated from the British at a critical point in the Revolutionary War.
The state Department of Environmental Protection is scheduled to begin remediating a contaminated portion of the site that used to house a pizza parlor and junkyard, and also has plans to build a visitor's center at the park.
Mary Miller, a fourth-grade teacher at Roosevelt Elementary, has been working with Vouvalides to coordinate the fund-raising effort. She said that the educational value for her students in seeing history come alive is irreplaceable.
"Several years back, they had an old medical kit," Miller said. Wright, the commission secretary, "pulled out an awful-looking tool that was used to remove teeth. One of the boys immediately put his hand to his jaw. I thought, ‘Wow, that's a connection with the past. This fourth-grader can relate to someone who underwent a tooth extraction.' "
Miller hopes that the exercise of raising money will also teach students that they have the power to make a difference.
"This is something that's very large, but small enough that the children have a connection to it," Miller said. "If enough people do this thing, we can have a change happen."
