At Calvary, history plus technology equals a family heirloom

Warwick — Joe Dans and his brother, Chris, wanted to preserve their family’s legacy. Their kids had no idea who came before their grandparents and the brothers themselves couldn’t identify some of the people in the photos taken so long ago. Dans, who earns his living doing public relations work for tech companies, also teaches technology at his son Ryan’s school, Calvary Christian Academy. Margie Smykla teaches sixth grade at Calvary, as well as seventh and eighth grade history and Spanish. Smykla and Dans were talking one day and hit on an idea: Why not combine history and technology and come up with a learning experience for the kids as well as for their families? Smykla and Dans asked the fifth- through eighth-grade students to bring in pictures of their extended families. In one project, the kids were going to research their family history and create a family history in a PowerPoint presentation. “Many of our family pictures are old and faded,” said Dans. “This taught the kids to scan them, save them, and be able to share them with their families. It’s a way to preserve them.” History comes alive The result was beyond what either imagined. “Kids were sharing their family stories,” said Smykla. “It makes history come alive.” For example, imagine finding out that your great-grandparents had an arranged marriage? Most kids have never even heard of an arranged marriage. Another child learned that his great-grandfather was a decorated police officer who died in a gun battle. “Parents want to do it themselves, but who has the time,” said Dans. “Making it a school project pushes them.” Smykla had an experience about 10 years ago when she was researching the 65th Infantry Division and discovered that her grandfather was in the marching band for the inauguration of Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. She ended up adding to the archives at West Point while doing her research because many of their pictures of the 65th Infantry were ruined in a flood. “What is great is that the kids are learning about history, learning about their own family’s history, and they are talking about it,” Dans said. “It’s a great family project, too.” When grandma was 13 Mary Beth Dinges is an eighth-grader who enthusiastically finished her project, with pictures, text and graphics on PowerPoint. “I didn’t know many of the people in the pictures at all,” said Dinges. “We had lots of pictures from Czechoslovakia — my mom’s family is from Czechoslovakia — and I didn’t know any of them.” Dinges only has one grandparent left, but she was able to learn about the others. For example, she learned that her families came to the United States in the 1930s — and she thought it was really funny to see a picture of her grandma as a young teen. “You just don’t think of your grandma being 13,” she laughed as she went through her presentation. She also found out that her brother Andy is named after her great-uncle and what her grandfathers did for a living — one made tags for clothing, the other worked for Breyer’s Ice Cream — which resulted in yummy perks for his kids. Family stories One child found out they were related to a king in Poland. Another learned her aunt was in a concentration camp as a child. Many learned about the Great Depression, a time most of today’s kids can’t even fathom. One child told that his great-grandfather would go to an A&P farther from his home because his family was on relief, something he was ashamed of. But the project doesn’t end there. Each of the kids made copies of the presentation to give to their extended families for Christmas gifts. “We all know that computers crash,” said Dans. “This way, the kids hand out this terrific family history on rewritable disks to all family members. It will never be lost. And they can add to it.” Dans was able to do that thanks to a group called OSTA — Optical Storage Technology Association (www.OSTA.org). With corporate members such as Apple, Sony, Microsoft and Kodak, the resources were there to help make this a memorable project for the kids and their families. “It’s just a wonderful way to keep people’s memories alive,” Dans said. On the Web Teachers who are interested in doing a project like this can get ideas and a lesson plan from the web site, www.archivemyphotos.org/school.html. Or they can contact Dans at 914-393-7758.