Published: November 09, 2009 06:39 am      

Stating the facts

BCMS students develop an appreciation for their old Kentucky home

Summit — Students were painting themselves into history at Boyd County Middle School on Friday morning.

Their canvases were the two plywood panels leaning on the wall of the eighth-grade art classroom, scribed with arcs forming the giant likeness of an old-time quilt pattern called “cathedral window.”

A work in progress, some of the facets were painted in primary hues of red and blue, others in green. Two lozenge-shaped segments stood out because they’d been painted to resemble a football and baseball.

Plans for the painting include some academic motifs, perhaps an open book and a microscope.

When it’s finished the quilt block will represent Boyd County schools and their traditions of academia and sports. Art teacher Michael Sexton hopes to exhibit it somewhere at the school, in the manner of the Kentucky Quilt Trail.

The quilt block is just one piece of a yearlong study unit about Kentucky culture put together by the nine teachers of the school’s related-arts team. The entire eighth grade is taking part in the study.

They hope to combine studies of the people, places and things in the Bluegrass State and at the same time instill in their students a lasting respect and appreciation for the commonwealth they live in.

“We want to explore all the things that make Kentucky unique and special,” said computer applications teacher Vickie Elswick, who broached the idea to her colleagues on the last day of the 2008-09 school year.

Earlier this fall the students took a trip to Fayette County to study the horse industry. They visited Keeneland, the Kentucky Horse Park, a feed company and two thoroughbred farms.

In the classroom they’ve researched Kentuckiana. Now they know Miss America 1944 was from Ashland, Ale-8-One is the commonwealth’s signature soft drink and Kentucky owns the bragging rights to bluegrass music.

Discovery is only part of the process. Bluegrass music, for instance, will anchor a roots music presentation planned for January, said drama teacher Nina DeSantis. The presentation will include both traveling musicians, local pickers and the talents of students, she said.

In May, they’ll put on a culture fair with Kentucky-themed projects and performances. It will be open to the public.

They will design, assemble and publish a cookbook of Kentucky favorites, said life-skills teacher Christel Fluty.

Language skills are enhanced through study of accent and phrases, and the students are learning how the Ohio River and the Appalachian Mountains were barriers that preserved Kentucky’s distinctive speech patterns, according to Spanish teacher Marilyn Serrano.

The approach is working because the students have a personal investment. “They’re learning what they want to learn,” Serrano explained.

Other teachers are noticing it too, especially after the field trip, according to keyboard teacher Debbie Caudill. “They say the kids would not hush,” she said.

The teachers hope their students will come to appreciate their state, its rich past and their own roles in shaping its future. As Sexton explained, “I want them to know they can be a part of history.”

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2652.