STUDENTS BECOME ORAL HISTORIANS

Greenway students are helping preserve for posterity the historic memories of Oak Ridge residents.  All students have received expert training in recording oral histories. They are interviewing Oak Ridge citizens about their memories of the Manhattan Project and World War II experiences.

Greenway School's Social Studies teacher Liz Shugart was presented in 2010 with an Award of Recognition for Outstanding Teacher of Humanities by the Humanities Tennessee non-profit organization. The award brought with it a stipend of $3,500, which Ms. Shugart used to attend an oral history workshop focusing on collecting stories during times of crisis. It also funded oral historians as guest speakers who have helped train Greenway's 6th,7th and 8th graders in collecting stories from local residents about the Manhattan Project and Oak Ridge. These students are not just passively studying history – they are themselves becoming historians.

Oak Ridge City Historian Bill Wilcox visited the school twice, once to help students understand the historical significance of Oak Ridge and again to be interviewed by students for Greenway's oral history project. Ed Westcott, Secret City photographer, also visited to share his photographs of early Oak Ridge.

Two of National Public Radio's Story Corps staff, Virginia Lora and Jorge Rios, also helped train the students for this important task, as well as Joel Walker from the National Archives in Atlanta.

Students have been conducting interviews during the past month. Oak Ridge film maker, Keith McDaniel is working intensively with the students in filming, script writing, and editing to produce three 10-minute documentaries on Oak Ridge history.

On March 10, the whole school traveled to the National Archives in Atlanta, where documents from the Manhattan Project are stored. The final goal is to put together “teacher boxes” that contain interviews and primary source documents that will be donated to the East Tennessee Historical Society for other teachers to use.

Greenway School's tradition of excellence in historical studies is many years long. Greenway has participated in the National History Day competition for eight years. Every year Greenway students have advanced to both the state and national levels.

 

Greenway School Students Excel at Math Competition

Greenway School’s MathCounts team placed fourth out of schools from all over East Tennessee in this year’s annual competition at the University of Tennessee.  "Mathletes" at Greenway, coached by the school's math teacher Stephanie Dempsey, met weekly for practice sessions, working complex math problems frequently involving advanced problem-solving skills.  Greenway has placed in the top four in MathCounts competitions five times. MathCounts serves as a national enrichment, coaching and competition program promoting middle school math achievement throughout the United States.

 

LIZ SHUGART  NAMED OUTSTANDING HUMANITIES TEACHER

Humanities Tennessee has chosen to present Greenway School’s Social Studies teacher Liz Shugart with an Award of Recognition for Outstanding Teacher of Humanities. The award brings a stipend of $3,500 for Ms. Shugart to attend an oral history workshop focusing on collecting stories during times of crisis. It also will fund her plan to have an oral historian work with middle school students at Greenway in collecting stories from local residents displaced by TVA or by the Manhattan Project.

Ms. Shugart has been teaching at Greenway School for ten years. In 2004 she was named a National History Day Teacher of the Year. In 2008, Ms. Shugart was chosen by the NCTA (National Consortium of Teaching on Asia) to go on an intensive study trip in China and Japan. Humanities Tennessee is a non-profit organization that focuses on grant-making, cultural development of the state's museums and historical organizations, and supporting studies of community history and culture.

 

 

 

GREENWAY SCHOOL TEAM WINS MATH BOWL

    Greenway School’s 7th grade team placed First in the annual Pellissippi Math Bowl, competing with other seventh-grade students from 30 Knox and Anderson Counties schools. Individually, Greenway 7th grader Timothy Blackwell placed 3rd and Sam Shadwell placed 4th.  Timothy also ranked 10th in the entire state of Tennessee.  He is the son of Stephen and Aleka Blackwell.  Sam is the son of Cliff and Jane Shadwell. Other members of Greenway’s winning team were Stephen Bassett, son of David and Laura Bassett, and Blaire Toedte, daughter of Ross and Sharon Toedte.

    Overall, 604 students competed. Oak Ridge Associated Universities helped fund the April 25th, 2009, competition, which was hosted by Pellissippi State Technical Community College. The event was sponsored by the Math Departments of Austin Peay State University, Middle Tennessee State University, Pellissippi State TCC, the University of Memphis, UT-Martin, and Walters State Community College. A Greenway School team has scored within the top two places two years in a row.