Summer Youth Heritage Program Application Period is Open

Seattle, Washington: The Washington Trust for Historic Preservation is pleased to announce they are accepting high school student and teacher applications for their fourth annual heritage field school that will take place at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, July 15-18, 2015. Discover Washington: Youth Heritage Project (YHP) will host up to 48 high school students along with eight teachers and mentors. Eligible applicants include all high school age students and school teachers in Washington and Oregon. The Washington Trust is developing and producing this year’s Discover Washington: Youth Heritage Project in partnership with the National Park Service, staff at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, and the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. Program topics will include early settlement of the American West; the archaeological process; the merits of reconstruction as a method of preserving the past; and the complexity of authenticity in historic preservation. Participants will be engaged in a variety of activities designed to help them develop their own ideas for what constitutes successful and engaging historic preservation strategies. YHP will feature an archeological dig in partnership with an archaeology field school sponsored by Portland State University. The program will also feature a visit to the Cathlapotle Plankhouse, a reconstructed Chinookan plankhouse located on the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. Over the course of the program, students will develop ideas and recommendations for successful historic interpretation at Fort Vancouver. Students will present these ideas to professionals and community stakeholders at the Town Hall meeting, the culminating event of the four-day field school. Members of the media and public are invited to attend the Town Hall, held from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 18 at the Vancouver Public Library. “Fort Vancouver is an incredible National Park, the perfect laboratory for investigating complex issues of historic preservation and interpretation. We are so pleased to host the YHP this summer,” said Park Superintendent Tracy Fortmann. The Washington Trust for Historic Preservation is pleased to be offering this program free of cost to all participants through generous grant funding from the National Park Service, the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, and the Clark County/City of Vancouver Historic Preservation Program. Discover Washington: Youth Heritage Project builds on the success of three prior programs: the 2012 Washington State Youth Summit: Connecting Cultures which focused on Latino Heritage topics and took place in the Yakima Valley and Mount Rainier National Park; the 2013 Youth Heritage Project at Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve; and the 2014 Youth Heritage Project in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District in association with the National Park Service’s Asian Pacific Islander Theme Study.  The Youth Heritage Project works to achieve four primary objectives: connect teachers and youth to historic places and landscapes; engage students in historic preservation and conservation activities; expand tools to support teachers’ educational efforts around the built and natural environments; and excite the next generation of advocates and stewards of our natural and historic resources. “The YHP program is fast becoming the premier opportunity for high school students to learn about our region’s history, engaging participants in hands-on activities and introducing them to practitioners in the field of cultural resource management,” notes Chris Moore, Executive Director of the Washington Trust. We encourage all interested high school-age students to apply, including 8th graders who will begin high school in the fall of 2015 and seniors who will graduate in 2015. The Washington Trust offers the Youth Heritage Program free of cost to allow any student who is interested the opportunity to apply (regardless of economic situation) and foster diversity among program participants. Applications will be due May 18, 2015 and are available now on our website at www.preservewa.org/discoverwashingtonyhp.aspx.