History Camp for Kids — A Week of Adventures

A four-day History Camp for Kids will be held July 18-21 at the Center for Educational Opportunities, 201 Staunton Road, Troy, Illinois. Geared for Madison County students aged 9-11, each day begins at 9 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m., and will include a field trip to an historic site in Madison County and history-based learning activities.

The cost per child is $100 which includes transportation to the sites, entry fees, educational materials, and snacks. Participants must bring a sack lunch each day. Online registration is at bit.ly/madcohistorycamp.

Campers will visit the Lewis and Clark Museum, the National Great Rivers Lock and Dam, the Confluence Tower, the Phillips 66 Museum of the Petroleum Industry, the Phillips 66 Refinery, a Lincoln-Douglas debate site, an Underground Railroad tunnel, and other historic sites related to the Abolitionist Movement. Participants should expect to do outdoor walking, often on uneven terrain.

The camp is a first-time collaborative effort between the Madison County Historical Society and the Madison County Regional Office of Education 41. All the camp coordinators have a background in historical studies and will provide instruction and guidance for the camp. The coordinators include Norma Asadorian, an educator and historian, Carol Manning, former education coordinator for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, and Dr. Robert Daiber, former Madison County Regional Superintendent of Schools. Additional historians, re-enactors, and staff also will provide learning experiences, supervision and support.

Registration is limited to the first thirty participants. For additional information, call 618-830-1647.

Details

Summer History Camp
July 18-21, 2022
9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Co-Sponsored by Madison County Historical Society
and the Madison County Regional Office of Education #41

— Target Audience: Children aged 9-11
— Cost: $100 (includes transportation, on-site tour guides, snacks, beverages and more)
— On-line registration at: bit.ly/madcohistorycamp
— Base Camp: Center for Educational Opportunities (CEO), 201 Staunton Road, Troy, IL
— Camp Leaders/Teachers: Norma Asadorian, Bob Diaber, and Carol Manning. All three are experienced educators with decades of experience in teaching and creating educational experiences for children. (See biographical information below) Transportation: Triad School buses with certified drivers from the Triad School District
— Food: Campers are asked to bring their own lunch. Snacks and beverages will be provided.
— For additional information, call 618-830-1647.

Camp Itinerary

Day One: Monday, July 18
“The Corps of Discovery/The Lewis and Clark Expedition”

History Campers will begin with a fieldtrip to the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site in the morning. Through hands-on activities throughout the museum, which centers around a life-sized replica of the boat used for the journey of discovery up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers,

History Campers will learn about how members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition made their arduous trek to the Pacific Ocean. In the afternoon, educational classroom activities at the CEO in Troy will include more information about the amazing people on the expedition, an introduction to journal writing with students starting their own History Camp Journal to emulate Lewis and Clark’s journals, replica Lewis and Clark expedition artifacts for the campers to handle, and a Lewis and Clark route map activity. History Campers will receive a set of newly designed U. S. nickels commemorating the Lewis and Clark Expedition and will have the opportunity to design their own coin. At the conclusion of the day, each camper will receive a copy of the award-winning book, “What Was the Lewis and Clark Expedition?” to take home and be inspired to read more about the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Day Two: Tuesday, July 19
“Slavery to Emancipation”

Anticipating the field trip for today, students will start with an educational classroom activity introducing the students to Slavery, the Underground Railroad, the Abolition Movement, Illinois statehood and its importance as a free state, and nationwide emancipation through the thirteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. Students will then set out on their field trip for the day, starting first at the Union Baptist Church in Alton, established by ten people who ran away from slavery in Missouri and made it to Alton in the free state of Illinois. Professor J. Eric Robinson will speak to the students at the Union Baptist Church. Next students will travel to the Lincoln-Douglas statues in downtown Alton, the site of the last debate between these two politicians in their bid for a Senate seat. At this site, students will hear about debates and issues related to the topics of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. At this location, several African-American officials will meet with the students, including Mayor Goins, the first African-American mayor of Alton, “Doc” Holliday of the Madison County Board and Andy Hightower of the NAACP. Following lunch, students will visit the Elijah P. Lovejoy Monument in Alton, where they will learn about the role of Abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy of Alton, the role of Governor Edward Coles in the constitutional battle to keep Illinois a free state, Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War, followed by Lyman Trumbull who lived in Alton at the time and his co-authorship of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution.

After viewing the Lovejoy Monument, students will travel to the Hayner Library in Alton to view one of the actual Lovejoy presses which was recovered from the Mississippi River and restored, after it was destroyed and thrown into the river by opponents of Lovejoy’s abolitionist writings. Librarian Lacy McDonald will talk to the students and explain the importance of the press to the students as they view the Lovejoy press. In the afternoon, students will return to their home base at the CEO in Troy where a Harriet Tubman re-enactor will portray this famed African-American woman, who washerself enslaved and escaped by herself to freedom, and then returned to the southern states to lead over three hundred people to freedom through the Underground Railroad. Parents and Madison County Historical Society Board members are invited to attend this performance at 2 p.m. and hear the story of Harriet Tubman and the importance of the Underground Railroad. History Campers each will receive a copy of the New York Times award winning books, “What Was the Underground Railroad?” and “Who Was Harriet Tubman?” to keep and take home to learn more about this period of history.

Day Three: Wednesday, July 20
“The Confluence of the Great Rivers at Madison County”

On this day, History Campers will go to the National Great Rivers Melvin Price Lock and Dam in Alton where they will enjoy the museum with its many hands-on activities in the Lock and Dam Museum, can try a simulation leading a barge through the locks, and take a ranger-guided tour of the lock and dam. Following an outdoor picnic lunch, in the afternoon, the history campers will go to Confluence Park on the levee to view the actual confluence of the great Missouri River with the magnificent Mississippi River. The nature of the two rivers is so different that the confluence of the two rivers can clearly be seen in the water. From Confluence Park, History Campers will go to the Confluence Tower in Hartford where they will ascend the three-story Confluence Tower to get an aerial view of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and the surrounding floodplain. At this site, students will also explore enormous Ground Compass and the adjacent Native Plants Garden, showing native plants and their uses, many of which were new to those on the Lewis and Clark Expedition but were used for centuries by the indigenous people they encountered on their epic journey. Afternoon educational classroom activities at the CEO in Troy will feature learning about the different types of rivers and rivers as habitats.

Day Four: Thursday, July 21
“Petroleum Industry in Madison County”

History Campers will journey to the Phillips 66 Museum and Refinery in Wood River where they will tour the Petroleum Museum which chronicles a history of the petroleum industry in Madison County. Here they also will see a film about the history of the Phillips 66 Refinery, a history of the petroleum industry, and products produced by the petroleum industry. Refinery staff will interact with student with hands-on activities related to the petroleum industry, following which the History Campers will enjoy a bus tour of the Phillips 66 Refinery. Upon returning to their home base at the CEO in Troy, campers will make a final entry into their History Camp Journals and will say good-bye to their new friends and their exciting week of learning about history in Madison County.

Camp Teachers:

Norma Asadorian
Norma Asadorian is an historian and certified educator, with multiple degrees in History, Russian and East European Studies, and Secondary Education. She enjoyed a career spanning thirty-seven years in secondary education where she taught various Social Studies subjects, including General U. S. History, A.P. U. S. History, World History, Illinois Archaeology, Economics, Current World Events, Geography, Ethnic Studies, and U. S. Government and Politics. As an educator, she developed and implemented county institute training sessions and educational displays for teachers. With special interest and extensive training in Native American history in Illinois and indigenous lifeways, Ms. Asadorian team- taught classes at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and Dupo Community High School. Over many years at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, she worked with site staff and volunteers to plan and present many annual events, teaching indigenous cultural history and lifeways to the general public. As founder and President of the Lincoln Place Heritage Association, she works diligently to preserve and pass on to others the history and cultural heritage of the immigrants who settled in the historic Lincoln Place neighborhood in Granite City, Illinois presenting many public programs and events, such as the annual Lincoln Place Heritage Festival. Since retiring from secondary education, Ms. Asadorian continues to pursue her interests in history and archaeology and to serve the community through active participation in the Madison County Historical Society and the Cahokia Archaeological Society.

Bob Daiber
Bob Daiber is a career educator who served the Triad District for twenty-eight years as a Career and Technical teacher prior to becoming appointed to the office of Regional Superintendent of Schools in 2007. He was then elected for three consecutive terms and retired June 2019. While Regional Superintendent, Bob collaborate with SIUE College of Arts & Sciences to begin an on-line encyclopedia, known as Madison Historical. This project was to capture major historical events in Madison County’s 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Bob’s public service also entailed serving as a Marine Village Trustee (1997-2001), Marine Township Supervisor (2001-2021), and Madison County Board Member (2002-2007). He has been involved in numerous civic organizations in Madison County. Bob’s family heritage for five generations is rooted deep in Madison County agriculture. Today he owns and operates a Centennial Farm in Alhambra Township.

Carol Manning
Carol Manning is a native of Alton, Illinois, who moved to Edwardsville in 2017 after her retirement from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) in Springfield, Illinois. At the ALPLM she served as an Education Coordinator from 2005 to 2016 where she developed lesson plans, lecture series, workshops, adult education programs, and assisted in developing procedures for facilitating school group tours. Prior to her work at the ALPLM, she worked in the Dean’s Office of the SIUE School of Business where she assisted in developing seminars, programs, and events for the Executive and Continuing Education Program. She was also an adjunct instructor of political science and history at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey and at the N.O. Nelson Center in Edwardsville. Her education is from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with a Bachelor’s degree in history and political science and a Master’s degree in history. She is also a member of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians, where she serves as president of the Madison County division and is State Historian for the Illinois State LAOH Board.