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History can be learned from many different perspectives, some of which might not be immediately available in a textbook. Primary Source, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making alternative ways of learning available to K-12 students, supplements traditional techniques with additional resources for teachers. Elizabeth “Lizzy” Buhl ’12 is helping to accomplish this goal with an internship at Primary Source in Watertown, Mass. Her internship is supported by the Couper Fund through the Career Center.

Founded in 1989, Primary Source is committed to creating a greater global understanding among K-12 students throughout New England.  By providing a variety of resources and programs to schoolteachers, Primary Source enables educators to enhance their students’ learning beyond traditional lesson plans and textbooks. Among the resources provided are a 7,000 piece library and online lesson plans, as well as graduate courses, workshops and study groups for New England area teachers. Buhl says that ultimately, “Primary Source promotes alternative ways for students to explore and understand history.”

At Primary Source, Buhl is learning how to create curriculum for the classroom, and later on she will meet with teachers and professors who are experts in the field of education. She is completing research on a diverse range of historical figures and events for online curriculum. Among the topics she has recently researched are Union General Fitz John Porter, rations during WWII, and the industrialization of South Korea.

Buhl is working at two summer institutes at Primary Source, each of which provides educators with a rich introduction to a particular course topic. The first Institute Buhl is working with is War and Society: From the American Revolution to the War in Vietnam and the second is Crossroads of Culture: Interactions in Asia from 600-1500 CE. She is compiling research for these programs as well as helping with their organization to ensure that they run smoothly. Buhl is also helping inventory the Primary Source library.

Buhl, an American studies and women’s studies double-major, is interested in pursuing a career in education and her experiences with Primary Source will allow her to explore alternative educational techniques while discovering more about American and global history. She explains that her American studies coursework at Hamilton has drawn from history, literature and art and she hopes to impart this sort of experience to the K-12 classroom. She looks forward to her work with Primary Source, and in particular she is anticipating a field trip to the Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire as part of the War and Society Institute.

At Hamilton, Buhl is a member of the swim team. She understands the value of an interdisciplinary, multifaceted approach to learning history. While many students may have to wait until college to experience this learning environment, Buhl is helping teachers all over New England enhance K-12 students learning to include a multicultural perspective.

Former Jefferson High Principal Cynthia Harris visited a math class in 2008. Jefferson High, with the second-highest African American enrollment in Oregon, didn’t offer calculus during 2009-10, according to new federal civil rights data. Among the 50 Oregon high schools with at least 25 African American students in 2009-2010, only seven had any African American students enrolled in calculus and none had more than five black students take the course.

That is according to a U.S. Department of Education civil rights survey, released last week, that found poor and minority students have less access to rigorous courses and experienced teachers than other students.

According to the feds, Portland’s Grant High, whose 375 African American students gave it the largest African American enrollment of any Oregon high school, didn’t have a single black student in calculus that year. Grant did have a handful of African American students take physics, and it had 85 students take calculus — all of them white, Asian or Latino.

According to the federal figures, somewhere between 7 and 35 African American students took calculus in an Oregon public high school during the 2009-10 school year out of the state’s more than 4,000 African American high school students. (When fewer than five students of any race take a particular course, civil rights officials round the number up to five to protect student confidentiality.)

Native American students also were a rarity in calculus in Oregon high schools, the survey found. But that was largely because, with the relatively small Native American population so widely dispersed, no high schools surveyed in Oregon enrolled more than 20 Native American students that year.

Latino students were better represented in advanced math. According to the federal data, about 35 Oregon schools had at least one Latino student take calculus that year, with Woodburn High enrolling about 30 Latino students in the course.

Four of the seven high schools that had at least one African American student take calculus were in Portland — Benson, Madison, Roosevelt and Wilson, the education department reported. The three others were Centennial High, Churchill High in Eugene and Willamette High in the Bethel school district.

Portland Public Schools recently adopted a racial equity policy under which it acknowledges that African American students have experienced inferior educational outcomes. District leaders say they will work hard to try to change that.–

Champions Camp at New Rochelle High School has become the final big event before the start of every new season. Some of the areas top teams meet for a week of workouts before a two-week break. Then its football, football, football all the way through to Thanksgiving weekend.

That will be the case this year as well. New Ro is set to host its annual camp beginning on Monday. It will run through Friday, with teams working from 4:30-8 every night. The list of teams includes: New Ro, Iona Prep, Harrison, Eastchester, Tuckahoe, and Woodlands.

There have been a few changes to the participants this year. Briarcliff and Roosevelt will not attend the camp. They have been replaced by Iona Prep and Woodlands. (Iona Prep participated last year, but only in a couple 7-on-7s.) Also, Ardsley may attend the camp as well, which has done in the past.

Full disclosure: I will not be at Champions Camp this year. Im headed out on vacation on Friday and will be gone for two weeks. Hopefully, one of my colleagues will fill in and keep the blog running with updates. I will let everyone know in the coming days.

Also, if any other coach, player or parent has information for other August camps/workouts, please e-mail them to me at jthomson@lohud.com.

  Community groups, student organizations and businesses also are invited to participate the event. The picnic provides an excellent opportunity for organizations to share information and provide sample products to new and returning students, parents, faculty and staff.   Last year more than 5,500 participant attended, enjoying a barbeque lunch, music and the community fair. All students, faculty and staff eat for free. 
 
If you are interested in hosting a table at the community fair, please fill out the reservation at and return it to New Student Programs by Wednesday, Aug. 10.   If you have any questions, please contact Kellie Murphy, or 509-335-4242.   See you at the picnic!