VIENNA — The Felker Family History video documentary compiled by a group of R-1 eighth grade library/reading students and their teacher Kristy Helton, was shown to the school board members at the December meeting. The board members liked it and complimented the students. The video documentary will be shown to the public at a Historical Society of Maries County (HSMC) meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 15 at 6 p.m. at the Vienna United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. The public is invited to attend to watch the nine minute documentary.

At the school board meeting, Helton spoke about how the project had come about. She attended the Morenet annual conference at the end of October and one of the sessions was on creating a virtual museum. She had been approached by HSMC President Lisa Jones about possible ways to get the youth more involved and interested in Maries County history. Helton said she had a small class of eighth graders during the second quarter that she thought would be able to complete this type of project.

Originally they talked about the Old Jail Museum as the subject but the HSMC asked they do the John Felker House museum instead and Jones came and talked to the class, telling them the story of John Felker. The students divided into three groups with each group taking a section of the story and they did the research. They focused on the early life of John Felker, the cattle drive he took to California, and the shipwreck of the Yankee Blade as they returned home. The students—Lily Wagner, Camie Doyel, Faith Dunn, Hazel Coons, Sasha Scaggs, Michael Salmons, Blake Shiver, Nora Garro, Brandon Helton, and Kayleigh Logan—made three trips to the Felker House at the Museum Complex in Vienna to learn more about Felker’s history and his life and family, and to get pictures. They were very creative, looking at the building and taking photographs in a different way. They also used music from Felker’s time period to accompany the photos and video. On the last visit, they used a GoPro to take a virtual tour. The students wrote out their scripts, practiced reading them, recorded in front of the green screen, then edited. The technology they used were iPads, Apple TV, a green screen app, and iMovie to create the final version. 

Helton told the school board members that 17 American Association of School Librarians Standards were used in the project. The standards are important ones such as share products with an authentic audience, engage in sustained inquiry, establish connections with other learners to build on prior knowledge and create new knowledge, and to recognize learning as a social responsibility.

Some of the students and their parents were present at the school board meeting for the viewing of the video documentary. The students appeared to be very proud of their work, and they should be. HSMC President Lisa Jones was present also and thanked the students for their good work, saying these students are the future historical society members. She said it was a “wonderful joint project” between the school, students and the historical society to benefit the entire community.