Calling pioneers and their families

Students work to record oral histories of first farmers

GEORGE — The project has been proposed and $2,500 in grant monies received, but all teacher Marie Noorani and her students at Christ the King Catholic School in Richland need are the oral histories from original homesteaders who first came to George.

Recording the histories of eastern Washington's original homesteaders is something Noorani has wanted to do since she first moved to the area seven years ago from the East Coast. It wasn't until she heard about a grant offered through the National Council for the Social Studies that she saw an opportunity to present her idea and receive funding for the project.

The purpose of the grant is to encourage students to be involved in researching local history and geography, Noorani said.

NCSS was founded in 1921 and grew to be the largest association in the country devoted to social studies education with members in all 50 states. NCSS supports educators in K-12 and higher education in administering social studies curriculum.

The town of George is of particular interest to the project. It's considered to have been homesteaded somewhat later than other areas, making it more likely to find the original homesteaders.

However, Noorani is by no means limiting the project to just George.

"If there are other communities we're overlooking we would definitely want to talk to those people as well," she said.

Already, seventh and eighth-grade students from Christ the King Catholic School have conducted three interviews. All interviews have to be completed by the end of the first week in December.

The project is vastly different from others eighth-grader LeAnn Becker has worked on in school.

"We've done interesting projects at school but nothing where we had to interview anybody," Becker said.

Learning about the allocation of farm land through the veterans lottery and how the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam affected farming operations are just some of the things students want to know more about.

Like Becker, eighth-grade student Andrew Lea agrees the project has required students to interact with people from different places and backgrounds.

What Lea looks forward to most is helping to write a book the students will compile of the oral histories. That book will be presented to the NCSS next November.

"It's an incredible way for students to hear others values, the risks they took, their experiences and the importance of farming and farmers and what they do for our community," Noorani said. "Food doesn't just show up on the grocery shelves, there are people behind that."

To reach Noorani about the project call (509) 946-6158.