5 Weeks, 13 Students: The Best Summer of My Life!

This picture shows all 13 students in front of the Meeting House at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead. This image is important to me because it shows me and all the friends I have made during these memorable 5 weeks. My new friends come from all across the globe, some from as far away as Andover, Massachusetts!

 

Sadness overwhelms me as I prepare to leave Andover. The five weeks have gone by all to fast, and I am worried I might never see my new friends ever again. At least I can walk away knowing that I have learned a lot. I have learned more here at Andover in only five weeks, than at my regular school which lasts for about ten months! The best part was that for once in my life, I actually loved school. It will be hard for me to leave the amazing people I have met and befriended, but I must leave Andover. Hopefully I can attend Phillips for high school.

            I have learned a lot at Summer Session.

Some of the things I have learned are:

~New Skills

• How to take Cornell Notes
• How to make good plot charts
• How to write an annotated bibliography

~New Ideas

• 20 innocent people were killed during the Salem Witch Trials
• Indian Boarding Schools were an attempt to assimilate Native Americans into white culture
• The Nacirema are a present day civilization that has been around since the late 18^th century

 

I have learned a lot this summer, and I will miss all of my friends and teachers. I know that someday I will look back upon these memories and hopefully remember everyone I met and everything I did.

The Summer With You All…

Many people may be enjoying their lives at the beach with the sun and the sand in the summer while we are at Phillip’s Academy summer session lower institute Dig This studying history, but nonetheless, we enjoyed our summer.

  Dig This is a course offered by Phillip’s Academy Andover focused on the study of history and archaeology. During the course, we covered the American history from the 1600s when the Europeans just arrived at to the early 1900s when Indian boarding schools were established. This course is rich and interesting but learning about almost 300 years in 35 days may cause confusion in minds but the benefit is always bigger than the detriment. 

  We all learned about this summer and there are three ideas that I think is presented to us through the history that we learned about. First, I found out that its never so simple as the English/White against the Indian/Native Americans. There are times when the Indians splits into groups and fight against each other and there are also times when the Indians or the Whites just fight among themselves! The causes of these conflicts are also complicated. Even though many people uses a specific event as the beginning of a conflict or war, but from all we learned, it is not so. There are always many causes that piles up that finally and then in the end starts the conflict. The short term triggers are important but the long term causes are what actually made the people angry. No conflict happens without a series of causes adding up. The last but not least idea is that all the conflict involves the word L-A-N-D land. The Indians were able to divide their land well because their land was divided according to the number of people they have which equals to their battling power. But as the Europeans come along, they grant themselves he ownership of all the land in which they find and give them Christian names as if they were the first to discover them ignoring the Indians’ rights over the land. As more and more Europeans come along, thy chase Indians out of their land with both threat and seduce the Indians into selling their land. The Southern Removal Act (trial of tears) is a very good example of a conflict over land.

  During the summer and especially the digs we had at Rebecca Nurse Homestead, we all learned many skills that we would probably have no chance to learn if we did not join the Summer Session. We learned the methods and the steps of an archaeological dig from the creation of a unit to the noting and picture taking of features and strata. For every hour we spend in the field digging, there will be ten hours spent in the laboratory studying these artifacts that we find. During the summer, we were also able to learn some basic ways to determine the date of artifacts like pipes by the diameter of the hole through the stem, pottery by design and decoration, bottles by shape and organism products by the amount of carbon left in a cell. There are also other skills we learned like how handle artifacts and that the acid on fingers will harm the artifacts. We can also determine a piece of artifact to be rock or ceramic by seeing if it sticks to your tongue. Ceramic does, rocks don’t.

  This summer session teaches us not just the history itself but also the experience of our ancestors which will hopefully help us in the future. Anyone who comes will say that it was worth it to spend your summer holiday and I hope more and more people can experience the courses provided by Phillips Academy Andover, enjoy and learn at the same time.

 

This is a picture of our whole class plus Mr. Newhall, Little Mr. Newhall (John), Ms. Tully and some of the other instructors who helped us at the dig. I find this picture meaningful because it shows what we’ve done during the summer and almost everyone involved. Even though it captures only a second of the 35 days of our summer session life, it reminds me of all my experience through the summer.

Wrapping Things Up

Time really flies those five weeks what seemed like just a week. I remember on how diverse the room felt from people that came all the way from Hong Kong and the closest was Andover. I remember that first day sitting around the whole table and Sid saying his name was Siddarth Vader and we all laughed. The big thing that I will take away from this class is harder then it really seems it’s not about just digging up artifacts but also having to date them and figuring out where to dig the test pit. I have also learned that even the president won’t listen to the court and will tell the court that it should reinforce it in my final project of Trail of Tears. Also out of that research I did learn that the U.S. military did have to use force as a way of getting moving the Cherokee and that it was a very hard thing on the Cherokee. We learned about many cultures from Nacerima to the Sea dogs of queen Elizabeth. The Cornell notes that we took for all of these different things we learned about helped me get a better understanding than what I normally take notes. It makes it easier to look back and just be able to read the summary to know what the notes are about instead of reading all the notes.

The field trips we went on were both informative but at the same time interesting to look and read. Some field trips were hands on while others were about learning about Native American culture. I even learned how to measure the length and width of a pipe, which is very interesting to find out, and once you are able to find the length and width you can tell the time period it was made in. Also what was interesting about this course was that we were able to see a backyard excavation and what you might find in your backyard and gave people and idea to dig up their backyard.

My experience of the Dig this! class

During my experience in the class Dig This I have gained new knowledge and obtained skills I am able to apply to later encounters in the future. In this class we looked at many different civilizations including the Mayas, Incas, Pequot, Choctaw, and many others. We also went into detail about different conflicts among various tribes. Some of these conflicts include the Pequot war, king Phillips war, Bacon’s rebellion, and a multitude of others. In addition to the class work we also visited many places. One place we visited was the Rebecca Nurse Homestead. Here we got a hands on look at some artifacts. We were able to actually use a trawl and dig in an actual site filled with artifacts. This class has provided me with very useful memories.

I have learned much about history through this class. Some of my favorite periods I learned about were the Salem witchcraft trials, the Pequot war, and king Phillips war. I was extremely fascinated with the theories of the Salem witch trials. I was as well interested in how during the Pequot war; it was 2 groups against 1 group. King Phillips war was also appealing to me in the way that it resulted. I have learned much about history through this class and hope to apply this knowledge to my later education.

While in the Dig this! I also learned valuable skills. These skills include note taking, presentation skills, and teamwork and cooperation. Before this class I had no idea what Cornell Notes were. Now after learning the practice and guidelines of this note taking style I understand how it may help one organize their own thoughts and obtain a better understanding of the subject. Also while working on my final slide show I realized how important it is to give the audience a very good and thorough amount of background on the subject. I have also realized combining knowledge and thoughts can end with a well-developed thesis. While studying these five weeks I have gained various skills and understanding to better serve me in my education.

These five weeks have been a very beneficial time for my education and me. With the class work and note taking mixed with hands on experiences and field trips, this was a fun and educational encounter. The class work, students, and teachers were all very welcoming and encouraging. The field trips were very informative while still staying clear from the boring side. This class has been a wonderful time for me and has made me appreciate Phillips academy much more now that I have had a “taste” of it.

I chose this photo because it shows our whole class together and as one. This picture also symbolizes how over the course of five weeks we became not only a class, but we also became great friends.

My days as an Archaeologist/Historian

Wow! When I look back at all the wonderful things we did this summer in Dig This! 08, I see how much fun we had while digging at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead. We found so many things, from ceramics, to a ring, to even pieces of a shoe, but what we found didn’t really matter, the only thing that mattered, was the experience that we all shared, and the knowledge that we gained. I really enjoyed visiting the accused witch’s home. I learned how to start an archaeological dig, and how to level. This skill will be very useful in the future, if I ever start to dig again, or if I become an archaeologist.

This summer, I also learned how to lead and work a group, more successfully. When we debated, I got the opportunity to lead the group. I got new leadership skills from this experience, one skill was listening. I learned to listen to other people’s ideas, before I decide which is wrong and which is right. When we reenacted that Bacon’s Rebellion Trial, and I got to act out the role of the governor, I got the skill of making decisions for a group (even though my decision didn’t make a difference in history), I also started to learn about point of view that way.

When we visited Harvard Yard, we got to examine artifacts that they found there. A skill I learned, was dating artifacts. I learned how to date bottles from the shape and size, I learned how to date pipe stems from their width and length. At the Rebecca Nurse Homestead we learned how to date artifacts, by the material the artifact was made out of, and the depth the artifact was found at.

Three new ideas that came across my mind during this course were: 1) Race is not biology 2) Americans want to own land, Native Americans want to live on the land 3) Archaeological findings are evidence of history. The idea of race not being part of biology came to my mind when we visited the Mashantucket Pequot Museum. The race exhibit was spectacular, and interesting. I had been told this before, but it really clicked when they showed how no one characteristic belongs to a single race, if their a characteristic that everyone in one race has, some people in other races, have it as well. I realized one of the main differences between Caucasian Americans and native Americans when we watched the movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, when the natives were pushed out of their land. I came across the idea of archaeology being the evidence of history, when digging at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead. When we found an artifact, it could conclude something like the people during the early 1900s ate peanuts, I know that is most likely a fact because I found a peanut in the 1900s level, if I were the first person to find proof that people of the 1900s ate peanuts (which I am not), I would be changing history by having evidence of a theory.

In the end, I realize that I am taking so much from this course, I learned new skills, I came up with new ideas, and I even got to do some archaeology! I learned that history isn’t just the past, history helps nations learn from mistakes, and history is alive today, people are still making history. I also have learned that My new friends will go back to California, Hong Kong, Canada, China, Florida or any of the other amazing places they came from, and remember this summer, just as I will. Phillips Academy Summer Session isn’t just “nerd camp” its a whole new experience with a beautiful campus, great teachers and diversity amongst the students. Oh, and I just realized that my title is incorrect, I will ALWAYS be a archaeologist and historian. Just because Phillips Academy Summer Session is over, doesn’t I can’t still start an archaeological site in my backyard, or I can’t study history. So, I honestly can say that I am looking forward to my future days as an archaeologist/historian!

One of our many group talks!

 

 

A typical lunch, we talk about our lives back home, and about the day's activities

 

 

Group work is great! I like working with my peers, because I get to see their point of view!

 

 

 

 

All of us at the dig!!!

Was It Worth Coming To Andover For Dig This!?

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Was It Worth Coming To Andover For Dig This!?

I knew that Phillips Academy always had a good reputation, but I had actually never been to one of their courses, so I wanted to experience it first hand, Here was the essential question, Was Phillips Academy’s reputation all hype? At first, I wasn’t so sure, but over the course of the next five weeks I would soon find out if the Phillips Academy Hype was worth what it was said to be, or not.

It is worth it to go to Phillips Academy. The teachers were great and the staff was great overall. I really enjoyed going there over the summer, and I learned many skills and many ideas.

Three of the skills that I learned were how to keep my notes clean-Cornell Notes- which really helped me, how to write a higher order question, and how to budget my time. Three ideas that I have learned is that being organized is key to getting good grades, always keep a vocabulary list, and what is the difference between a higher order question and a reporter question. All these things will help me next years and the years after, so think you Ms. Tully and Mr. Newhall. Also the kids there were fantastic.

The awesome archaeologists from Dig This 08!

Dig This! What a cool name, what an unforgettable class. Time never stops, as soon as I flickered my eyes, Dig This have already reached the end. Still remembered the first day of class, I was sitting at the corner of the Peabody classroom, being indifference to the class. I was like an oyster, stayed inside my shells and separated from the class. No matter it was the tour of Philip Academy Andover or eating lunches in the Uncommon, I was by myself. Seriously, it was not cool to be by yourself.

            Since I was come form Hong Kong, I have a different accent from the other kids. I was scared of talking, because I was afraid that my classmates would laugh at me. Dig This has let me understood that if I didn’t try, I won’t know the answer. As a result, I started to communicate with my classmates, such as Beebie, Aidan and Malina. I found out that they were really kind and nice. In addition, I chose to write a creative story for my final project. Because I want to challenge myself to speak in front of people, I want to show them what I have learned during Dig This!

            Dig This has been a great class. I have gained and obtained lack of knowledge. Our class has successfully unearthed the history. It has colored my humdrum summer, it has taught me tons of substantial information about the Native Americans. However, I still have three new ideas for Dig This!  First, I hope Dig This can add some excavation about prehistoric dinosaurs bones, don’t you think is cool if you find a tyrannosaurus’s tooth? Secondly, I hope the kitchen could provide different kinds of lunch for us, because I have had Turkey sandwiches for all my field trips. As a result, I was scared of Turkey now. Lastly, I hope Dig This could accomplish some kind of souvenir. So when I arrived in Hong Kong, I could show my accomplishment to everyone. Also, I can always remember all my beloved teachers and classmates.

            Obviously, since Mr. Newhall was an expert in Cornell notes style, he has “forced” us to follow his footsteps.  I was being sarcastic when I said, “Forced”. By the way, I have really taken advantages from taking Cornell notes. It has helped me organized my thoughts and information during class presentation. I am 100% positive that I am going to use Cornell notes at my school. Also, I have learned how to read an article and take good notes on it. In the past, I won’t take notes while I was reading, so I didn’t really understand the article. From now on, I started to take notes on the key idea of the article. Third, I have learned how to find appropriate and reliable sources for projects. It is going to be a vital skill for me, because at my school, I have to due with tons of projects. Lastly, I really enjoyed all the filed trips that Dig This has prepared for us. I really like to learn from looking at artifacts from the past.

            I was really proud to be part of Dig This! I knew I would never regret for coming to Philip Academy Andover. I have gained lots of substantial skills and met lots of really nice people and teachers, who I am going to miss them so much in Hong Kong. Dig This was like a big puzzle, formed by 13 little pieces, Malina, Beebie, Aidan, Anthony, Victoria, Sid, Christine, Cindy, Sameer, Thalia, J.P, Mary and Me. We were all part of Dig This 08! “Congratulation Kenny! You have graduated!”

They were our stars in Rebecca Nurse Homestead. They really helped us went through the process of excavating artifacts. If they didn’t help us, I don’t think the excavation in Rebecca Nurse Homestead would be that successful!

It’s a Small World After All

 

In this photo, Cindy and I are listening to her Chinese music, and she is translating for me. I’m trying to pronounce the name of the song (and failing miserably). This photo shows how friendship is a universal language.

 

Coming into the Dig This! program, I really didn’t know what to expect. Everything seemed new to me. I had never gone on a real archaeological dig before, I didn’t know how to identify artifacts. Then I realized that this was new to everyone else, too. We were all there to learn about history and archaeology together. And wow, did we learn a lot…

One of the many things I enjoyed about Dig This! was the field trips. Going to a hsitorical site can give a history lesson a whole new meaning. Our class spent a good amount of time at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead in Danvers, Massachusetts. We actually got to dig at the Homestead and find artifacts. Knowing that the ring you just dug up could have been worn by someone in the 18th century is thrilling. I learned about how archaeologists work at a real dig and how they date artifacts. After several visits to the Rebecca Nurse Homestead, I now know how to dig a test pit, measure levels of soil, screen soil for artifacts, and distinguish worms from 200 year old nails (a good skill to have as an archaeologist).

In class at the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, there was a lot of note-taking. I really don’t feel comfortable taking notes, it never works for me. This summer, I learned a new note format called Cornell Notes. Although it was frustrating at first, learning to use the Cornell Notes style has helped me a great deal during class, and I think it will help me when I return to my regular school.

Another skill I learned during Dig This! was how to participate more in class. I’m usually pretty quiet in class at school, but there was something about this summer session that made me want to ask more questions and get more involved. The format of our classes was fairly open, and students were encouraged to ask questions. We also did some fun activities that invovlved the entire class, like reenacting the Publo Revolt and learning how to shoot a dart using an atlatl (let me tell you, it’s not easy!). Suddenly, class seemed less like class and more like learning while having fun.

For me, history has always been interesting, but it’s just history. It’s in the past. By the end of Dig This! I knew for sure that history is not way back in the past, gone forever. In fact, it’s still very much alive today. I was amazed to hear that the Lakota still claim the Black Hills as their sacred land, or that my teacher was a descendent of Rebecca Nurse. The events of the past are still effecting the lives of people today, and this course has helped me to realize that.

As I began to dig deeper and deeper into history, studying different points of view, it became clear that history is not simple, black and white stuff. It’s not just Indians versus white settlers, or French versus English. History is much more complex than that. Everyoe has their own point of view, and it’s no different with historical figures. Analyzing major conflicts, such as the Raid on Deerfield or the Pequot War, has shown me that there’s more than two sides to every story.

Some lessons I learned at Phillips were outside of class. I made friends with kids from the other side of the planet. Guess what? They’re not that different from the kids in my neighborhood! Sure, they may eat different food, or even speak another language, but teenagers are teenagers, all around the world. Spending time with such a diverse group of students is living proof that it’s a small world after all.

Dig This! has taken learning to a higher level. When my friends go back home to California, or Lawrence, or Canada, or Shanghai, I think we’ll all remember what an amazing summer it has been, and we won’t ever forget it.

My Retrospective

Organizing things

Originally uploaded by owhlibrary

Looking back on Summer Session, I realize how much I will miss you all. This picture only reminds me more. One of my favorite things about this picture is that it was taken on was on the first few days, when we barely knew each other’s names. (Mary, Thalia, Beebie, Me.) Now that it’s almost over, I feel like we’ve gotten so close, it’s so hard to say goodbye.

Dig This! was a great experience for me, both socially and academically. The valuable history information will help me in years to come, when I can raise my hand in American History and say, “Actually, that rock was a prehistoric ax for cutting wood.” But I also made so many new friends I want to keep it touch with.

Three really cool things I learned as part of Dig This! 08: That’s hard. I learned so much while I was here. I feel like my brain has grown twice it’s size. But one of the things I learned is that all throughout time, Geography have influenced many aspects of culture, like agriculture, trade, battle. Another is that Indians have been constantly oppressed in the last few hundred years by Americans, being forced to uproot their families and work as slaves for other people. And third, I learned that even though Jamestown was the first successful colony, Roanoke, the “lost” colony, was established 17 years earlier.

Now three skills I learned. This is slightly easier. First, obviously, I learned how to take Cornell notes. Lots of them. Secondly, I learned the excavation process. It’s a lot more complicated and tiring than you’d think. And finally, I learned how to make annotations to go along with my citations. These are all things I may need to know later.

I’LL MISS YOU ALL!!!!!!! HAVE A GREAT LIFE!!!!!!!! REMEMBER THE AWESOMOSITY!!!!!!!

Wrapping Up Dig This 08, Sadly

This is Kenny, Aidan, and myself working together during the first week, I like this picture, because it will always remind me that we worked together and how good of friends they were during Summer Session.

As summer@andover wraps up, I recall what I learned, and my experiences here at Andover. With Dig This coming to a close, and everyone prepares their goodbyes, I remember some of the very excellent topics and skills I learned here at Andover.

My favorite idea that I learned here at Andover, was the Indian Boarding School system and the BIA. How this system start by Richard Henry Pratt was the key tool in starting a genocide on Native American culture and also the major tool in assimilating Native Americans. Another idea I learend at Andover was King Philips War, which is one of the 3 major wars that I found very interesting. How the war was started because Philip (Metacom) was angry at the white settlers, and how his ancestors traded, and were good friends with the settlers. My third idea that I learned at andover was more about the Salem Witch Trials. This topic is very interesting to me and I hope to learn more about it in the near and far future.

I think the most important skill I learned at Andover was the ability to create a Higher Order Question to enchance your ability to write a presentation. Another important skill I learned was how to do a succesful archaeology dig and how to create a Test pit, it tempts me to go home and dig one myself! And finally, the third important skill I learned was how to be even more independent here at Andover. It taught me how to improve my time spent at homework and when I should divide my time to be more organized.

Thank you Mrs. Tully and Mr. Newhall and Ms. Wilson for a GREAT experience at Summer Session. I hope to see you all again in the near future if I am accepted into Philips Acad. Thank you and I will miss all of you, it was a great experience here at Andover and I want to come back for high school, it was a great 5 weeks. Thanks!

~Anthony Namnum of Dig This: Unearthing the American Past