Each year at Nathan Hale High School, juniors choose a Community Action Project that solves a problem in their community. Recently, two Nathan Hale projects crossed my radar. Both help preserve our history.

Fitting Under the Desk

Earthquake preparedness is an extremely important part of preservation and protects both historic buildings and human life. Last year's earthquake taught many people that they didn't know as much as they should about preparing for and responding to an earthquake. Students at Nathan Hale High School were disappointed with the gaps in earthquake awareness information provided to teenagers. The information didn't speak to them, and didn't answer a lot of very important questions.

A group of students chose to create a new informational video entitled, "I Don't Fit Under The Desk: Advanced Earthquake Safety" as their Community Action Project. The video took top honors at the recent 39th Annual Northwest Regional Emmy Awards and also garnered accolades at the 19th Annual Emerald City Awards.

The video describes what to do in a variety of situations that aren't addressed in conventional earthquake safety videos. What should someone do, for instance, if an earthquake hits while swimming in a pool? Or while at McDonalds?

In a related project, two students at Nathan Hale held workshops on home earthquake preparedness.

When I spoke with Nathan Hale High School teacher, Pat Ripley, she described many similar projects that connected students with their community. She said very few people know about their extensive community service, "we don't publicize it because we're too busy getting stuff done."

Video Quilting

Another noteworthy project, now in progress, is a "video quilt" on local leaders of the civil rights movement. Based on standard materials in their social studies class, many students thought the civil rights movement was a phenomenon that happened back east, or in the south, not in Seattle or the Pacific Northwest.

The video quilt project is based on a series of student-conducted videotaped interviews with people like County Council member Larry Gossett. Gossett was an adamant advocate of civil rights in the late 1960s, and even frightened teacher Ripley with his tactics. "He carried a gun back then. I was afraid of him." She went on to say how great it was to see Gossett years later, talking to and teaching her students through his experiences.

The video quilting project will preserve these memories and lessons for future Nathan Hale social studies classes, and the rest of us who assume Seattle was immune to the impact of the civil rights movement.

For more on Seattle and the civil rights movement, see the HistoryLink website. For more on Nathan Hale High School, visit Seattle Public Schools website.

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