The Apprentices: An Update from the Teens of the Thomasville History Center
If you’ve been following along with our adventures over the years, you’ve probably heard about our Apprentice Program. Open to teens throughout Southwest Georgia and North Florida, we’ve invited them into the museum world for a few years now. They learn about the ins and outs of non-profits, from fundraising to education and curation and all the bits in between. Somewhere along the way, they even get to pick up soft skills like how to present yourself, working with others, and transforming their ideas from a spark of inspiration to something to be shared with the public.
Over the last year, we had six Apprentices across three cohorts. Our newest members, Bria and Wren, had a lot to digest as we took them through Museums 101. With the second cohort joining us, we took a trip to the Georgia Museum of Agriculture in Tifton to see how other museums operate. The Apprentices got to speak with the museum’s programs director – in action as she assisted a cane syrup bottling demonstration – explored various historic buildings, and participated in several activities from grinding corn meal to making rag dolls.
Speaking of the second cohort, we were glad to have Bella, Alanis, and Wesley join us for a second year in their apprenticeship. We took them deeper into the innerworkings of non-profits where they learned about budgets, living collections (that’s animals and plants), and the real-world applications of public history.
Our longest serving Apprentice, Jack, has been with us for three years. As the sole member of his cohort (the others having graduated or moved on), we stepped up the game on his apprenticeship. Over several months, Jack visited the local courthouse record rooms where he studied a set of books listing every man (and woman!) from Thomas County who served in World War I. These books are over one hundred years old, with frayed pages full of detailed information on these officers, soldiers, seamen, and nurses, many of whom saw action in Europe. Their stories are told within these pages. With the data Jack collected, we will now be able to tell a more complete story about Thomas County’s involvement with the “War to end all Wars.”
At the end of each year, the Apprentices complete a capstone project, a culmination and application of what they’ve learned over the year combined with a subject that interests them. We challenge them to dream big and then transfer those ideas into a presentation that can be delivered to the public (usually an adoring audience of family and friends).
This year, they mustered up their courage and displayed several beautiful and well-thought out projects. Bria envisioned an off-site exhibition detailing her family’s history within Thomas County while Wren created a walking tour of a historic district near downtown Thomasville. Our second cohort featured fundraisers with Wesley’s idea for an event on the grounds of Pebble Hill, Alanis’s plans for a drive-in movie event, and Bella’s dreams for Folk Music festival that would educate attendees on the connections between folk music and native flora in the South. We rounded the capstones off with a presentation from Jack featuring the information he collected over the year accompanied by several artifacts from the History Center’s collections that will be used in future exhibit material here at the museum. Dozens of family members and friends turned out to view our Apprentices’ work and a good time was had by all.
We’ve been grateful to have the opportunity to work with the Apprentices over the years. Each one brings something new and unique to the table and inspires the staff at the History Center to dive deeper into the world of history and museums.
