WHIZ KIDS: Ridgely Middle Students Present Oral History Projects

Four recently-graduated eighth-graders from Ridgely Middle School’s Gifted and Talented (GT) social studies program presented oral history projects at the Martha Ross Center for Oral History at UMBC.

Their historical subject matter, which they spent the last six months of middle school researching and preparing, ranged from the Japanese internment to a biography of Elvis Presley. 

On June 28, when summer vacation had already begun and the eighth graders were preparing to enter high school, Emily Stubblefield, Ellie Mathey, Avalon Bonlie and Ashley Forthuber gave their 15-minute multimedia American history presentations to an audience of Baltimore County educators, students, administrators and department heads, along with UMBC’s Barry Lanman, director of the Martha Ross Center. 

The GT oral history curriculum was instituted by Lanman, now retired from Baltimore County Public Schools, during his tenure as a BCPS social studies teacher, department chair and principal. 

Joe DeFilippo, the students’ eighth-grade social studies teacher at Ridgely, has taught the GT oral history curriculum for 28 years. This was his seventh year participating with his students in the oral history symposium at UMBC. 

DeFilippo and Lanman selected the four students from two GT social studies classes, which had about 60 students, all of whom prepared and presented an oral history project during the school year. The selections were based upon the quality of the students’ research, interviews and final presentations. 

“The project takes about six months worth of work,” said DeFilippo. “At the end of the year, each student gets to present to the class. It [the oral history project] is really the distinguishing factor between the GT and the academic classes in the eighth grade.” 

DeFilippo added that with the advent of computer software like iMovie, some of the students’ presentations look professional enough “to be on Maryland Public Television.” 

Avalon Bonlie presented a project about the history of racial integration in public schools, touching on Brown versus the Board of Education and the Little Rock, AR crisis.

“I’m just really proud of her,” said Cherry-Lee Ward, Avalon’s mother. “It was a huge time commitment. She just kept going back at it and refining it and adding more. It was an awesome process to watch her go through. The project was amazing and it really made history come alive for the kids.” 

Ward said she loved how much American history Avalon learned in addition to her own subject matter. In the six months that the class was immersed in the project, they all learned from each other’s research. 

“They became more interested in each other’s projects,” Ward said. “Everyone knew what everyone’s project was about and where they were in the process. It was a great interactive way to do it.” 

Avalon used archival footage of riots and “tons and tons and tons of photos,” she said, for her multimedia presentation, which she is proud of. 

“I do know that it was a really interesting project and it just took so much effort that I think I took a lot out of this project,” Avalon said. 

Ellie Mathey presented her project on Title IX, also in keeping with the theme of equal rights. Ashley Forthuber presented the biography of Elvis Presley, and Emily Stubblefield presented a project about the Japanese-American internment during World War II. 

“I chose to focus on the impact it had on the children who were interned,” said Emily. “It was a long project and it was hard at times to keep going.” 

Emily’s mother, Traci Martin, thinks the length of the project was its strength. 

“Most of these kids have never had to conceptualize a project that was that big and stick with it that long,” said Martin. “I think it was really good preparation for going into high school.”