Hello All, my
name is Genevieve (Genna) Perry and I have continued my position as the Fort
St. Joseph Intern this year. I have been with the Fort St. Joseph
Archaeological Project since 2015 and it has been a great pleasure to watch
students as they evolve from new archaeologists that have difficulty
distinguishing a rock from a stone flake or a piece of a clay pipe from
calcined bone, to becoming those that teach others about these things.
Thankfully, many of these new teachers of archaeology also continue on to do
lab work in the off-season. Apart from artifact analysis, inventory, digitizing
field-notes, artifact photography, and creation of promotional documents, the
other essential part to being a lab student is helping keep our public outreach
alive.
 |
| Students Meghan and Hailey talking to Michigan Archaeology Day visitors |
We attend several events through-out the year to help educate others,
especially children, about archaeology and Fort St. Joseph. This semester, we
attended two of those events. One of which was Michigan Archaeology Day, which
is held in Lansing, MI at the Michigan Historical Museum. This event hosts
projects and universities from around the state to focus on and highlight the
archaeology that is being done at the local level. This year, a record 1,400
people attended the event. We were able to bring our “Recent Finds” artifact
case, the updated site map, the introductory Open House banner, a slideshow
demonstrating field activities, flyers and brochures. We interacted with people
of all ages, educating them about the specific archaeology that we do at Fort St. Joseph and getting
them interested in the various ways we integrate the public during the field
season. The event usually takes place at the end of October; stay updated on
our social media to find out when it will be held in 2018 and we will see you
there!
 |
| Students Kaylee, Meghan, and Hailey teaching Lake Center Elementary Students about stratigraphy as they color their artifacts during I <3 STEM Night |
The other public outreach event that we participated in this year was
Portage Lake Center Elementary I <3 STEM Night. This event hosts multiple
STEM programs from Western Michigan University and around the state, such as WMU
Chem Club, WMU Engineers, Home Depot, MDOT, KAMSC, Best Buy, Air Zoo, Eaton,
among many others. We interacted with children K-5, teaching them about the
importance of stratigraphy (layers of soil) and where we might expect to find
certain artifacts. We also brought along our “Recent Finds” artifact case,
slide show, and brochures to educate parents about Fort St. Joseph. The Project
is extremely fortunate to have an active role in not only the community of
Niles, but in the community of Kalamazoo as well. A vital component to public
archaeology is maintaining a presence within the community to help keep local history
in the forefront of peoples’ minds. Stay tuned to hear about the many other
events that we will attend in the spring semester, such as WMU’s MLK Career
Cruising Event and the annual El Sol Elementary visit to the Anthropology
Department! Thank you all for following along with us throughout this semester,
we appreciate your support and hope to see you all in the summer!
- - Genna
