What to do with a middle school or high school student on summer break? At the
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore this summer, the answer is to match them up with traditional artisans and craftspeople to learn trades and arts that you aren't going to find in school.
The project is called the Traditional Skills and Trades Mentor/Apprentice Project, and pairs middle and high school students who are part of the SEEDS and Northwest Michigan Youth Corps with professionals in traditional and historic trades like broom-making, fur trapping, soap or candle making, blacksmithing, basket making, spinning and weaving.
The students become something like an apprentice to the artisan or crafter, who are funded as part of a grant through the National Park Foundation's "America's Best Idea" program. The program is meant to connect underserved populations with national parks -- and, in this case, pass down old skills to new generations.
"It is an honor to receive this grant because it will assist the park and the National Park Service in preserving traditional trades through video documentation and apprenticeship training," says Tom Ulrich, Deputy Superintendent of the National Lakeshore. "With this project, we will expand the park's current partnership with SEEDS/Northwest Michigan Youth Corps to connect at-risk and adjudicated middle school and high school students with traditional artists and trades people who participate in the park's annual Port Oneida Rural Historic District Fair."
The annual fair brings back days of old, allowing park visitors to experience the farming and crafting life at the National Lakeshore on historic farm sites.
The SEEDS program doesn't stop with the end of summer; it will continue to connect mentors and students through after-school and summer camp programs throughout the 2011-2012 school year.
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Tom Ulrich, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
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