{"id":166508,"date":"2023-05-11T12:22:50","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T16:22:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setonshrine.org\/?p=166508"},"modified":"2023-05-11T12:22:50","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T16:22:50","slug":"seton-shrine-young-interpreters-brings-history-to-life-for-visitors-and-themselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setonshrine.org\/es\/seton-shrine-young-interpreters-brings-history-to-life-for-visitors-and-themselves\/","title":{"rendered":"Seton Shrine Young Interpreters Brings History to Life for Visitors \u2013 and Themselves"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Danielle Bean<\/p>\n

Visitors who walk the grounds of the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Md., often report feeling like they\u2019ve stepped into a history book.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s no accident.<\/p>\n

Just ask 12-year-old Nikki Robinson who has spent three years in the Shrine\u2019s Junior History Interpreters program. Nikki portrays an actual person in costumes, participates in period activities and is there to show and not just tell what it was like to be a student in the early 1800s at the first Catholic school for girls run by an order of Religious Sisters in the young United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love learning about history and knowing that I\u2019m walking in the footsteps of Mother Seton and her students,\u201d Nikki says. \u201cThe beginning part of the program is where we find out \u2018who we are\u2019 and we get to research and learn what we can about that person. So, getting to know that person, who is kind of lost to history, and bring them back to the present is really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Shrine is one of the few places where a visitor can walk in the literal footsteps of a saint. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born American saint, lived and worked on the grounds of the current Shrine, as she founded the first religious order of sisters in the U.S. Starting in September, people will be able to visit a new $4 million museum and visitors center dedicated to telling the story of Mother Seton in new and vibrant ways.<\/p>\n

But an integral part of the Shrine remains the expansive grounds and the very buildings in which Mother Seton raised her children, worshipped, taught and ultimately died as one of the most important figures in the history of the Catholic Church in America.<\/p>\n

And inside those buildings on afternoons and weekend days from September to August, any number of the 29 current members of the Living History program seek to show in real terms life for a 19th<\/sup> century girl at the school. These volunteers play real historical characters who come to life and interact with guests. In character, these volunteers share about their lives as sisters and students who lived and worked with Mother Seton.<\/p>\n

While the junior interpreters are on site year-round, the Shrine hosts two weekends of special interactions and family activities each year known as Academy Comes Alive. This year\u2019s dates are May 4-6 and May 11-12. Timed tickets are required and can be purchased online at https:\/\/setonshrine.org\/academy-alive\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The four-year-old Junior History Interpreters program employs Mother Seton\u2019s educational philosophies and methods, continuing her legacy of mothering to young hearts and minds, forming them in their faith, giving them confidence, and training them for success in the world.<\/p>\n

Young girls who take part in the Junior History Interpreters program range in age from 8 to 16 and make a commitment to extensive training. To play the part of a student in St. Elizabeth Seton\u2019s school accurately, they must learn many of the traditional skills her students learned, from penmanship and needlework to hospitality and foreign languages.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first class we teach is pen and ink,\u201d says Lisa Donahue, museum educator at the Shrine and one of the main teachers in the Junior History Interpreters program. \u201cThey learn some basic calligraphy skills. This year we\u2019re having them make their own journals using a hammer and nails to string it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly the girls are taught why learning these skills was important in the 19th<\/sup> century and they then can teach the visitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The participants commit to a minimum of two hours of training per week and monthly three-hour workshops where they learn what they need to know to immerse themselves in character. As a result, the junior interpreters themselves often see history come to life in a new way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe depth to which they teach the history and values of the Church is excellent,\u201d says Trish Robinson, mother of Nikki Robinson. \u201cI studied at Mount St. Mary\u2019s and my husband attended Mother Seton School in Emmitsburg and got his Masters from The Mount, so this area is special to our family. For Nikki, at age 12, to know and understand the impact that the Church and St. Elizabeth had in her own community is pretty outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

A happy accident of the program are the friendships cultivated among the students themselves. Katie Langville, mother of Giada, a 14-year-old junior history interpreter at the Shrine, says, \u201cI like that it is teaching Giada more about our Catholic faith, and it\u2019s also great that she can have fun with our faith with other girls her age. Being part of the program is a great way for my daughter to make friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opportunity for authentic, faith-based friendship is something Donahue notes as well. She recalls how one student came to share with others in the program that she was being bullied at school, and the whole class rallied to support her.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe comes after school and on weekends, and she has found real friends here,\u201d says Donahue. \u201cShe wants to be here all the time. Those are the things I\u2019m seeing that I\u2019m really proud of \u2014 the confidence and self-esteem the girls have developed and the friendships they are making.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friendships the girls form in character cross over into real life as well. \u201cGetting to know and working with the other girls in the program has been so great,\u201d says Nikki Robinson. \u201cThat\u2019s another way we get to learn more about the students that were there, by talking with each other and sharing \u2018our\u2019 histories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trish Robinson is one of many parents who are grateful for that legacy. \u201cI have no doubt,\u201d she says, \u201cThat we will look back years from now and see how the JHI program and St. Elizabeth Seton impacted our daughter in the best ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donahue sees the connection between St. Elizabeth Seton and her young students as a powerful and personal one. \u201cI tell the girls when they get accepted into the program that they are here because Mother Seton wants them here,\u201d she says. \u201cI really feel like she chose them.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about the program, please see https:\/\/setonshrine.org\/jhi\/<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Living history is an interpretive tool used at the Seton Shrine to tell the history and story of Mother Seton, the early Sisters of Charity, and…the students!<\/p>","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":166509,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[3920],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsroom"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSeton Shrine Young Interpreters Brings History to Life for Visitors \u2013 and Themselves - Seton Shrine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Living history is an interpretive tool used at the Seton Shrine to tell the history and story of Mother Seton and the early Sisters of Charity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/setonshrine.org\/es\/seton-shrine-young-interpreters-brings-history-to-life-for-visitors-and-themselves\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Seton Shrine Young Interpreters Brings History to Life for Visitors \u2013 and Themselves - 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