Students Present Research at Marietta “This Place Matters” Event

Elizabethtown College Honors students enrolled in a Public Heritage Studies Guided Research and Writing Community Based Learning Course presented research at the “Fifty Years of Preservation and Perseverance in Marietta, Pennsylvania: The Aftermath of Hurricane Agnes (1972-2022)” event, hosted by the Honors program in the Marietta Community House on April 23.

In the first hour of the event, students presented posters with research conducted over 14 weeks of fieldwork on the resilience of the Marietta Community after the disastrous floods that came with Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Student posters were also presented at Elizabethtown College’s 2023 Scholarship and Creative Arts Day (SCAD) in April.

“Being educated to serve means acting on what you learn and being a leader,” Elizabethtown College Director of Prestigious Scholarships and Fellowships and Public Heritage Studies Jean-Paul Benowitz said. “Through this project, students are building long-term sustainable relationships with the residents of the local community. This is serving the local community; this is education for service; this is leadership.”

The scholarship produced by the Etown Honors students earning a Public Heritage Studies Certificate is being used by the Marietta Borough Council to execute their Placemaking Heritage Plan by launching a National Historic Preservation Trust “This Place Matters” campaign – a nationwide initiative that strives to engage communities in highlighting historically significant properties that aren’t formally recognized as such in various municipalities across the country.

The student’s contributions through civic engagement and service learning are also being used by Marietta for securing local, state, and federal grants for ecological conservation, historic preservation, and local economic development.

At the event, Eric Schubert ’23 presented the research that he conducted over four years of the Summer Creative Arts and Research Program (SCARP), working with borough leadership to help launch a “This Place Matters” campaign for Marietta.

“Collaborating with so many in Marietta has set me up for success by giving me incredible first-hand experience that is second to none,” Schubert said. “By coordinating and marketing events, sharing research, engaging with community members, and more, I gained experience I would not have gained elsewhere.”

Alumnus Kyle Capucci ’22 presented his Honors in the Discipline Senior Thesis, conducted over three years of SCARP projects, regarding historic preservation and economic development in Marietta. Capucci’s work builds on that of Carl Doan ’73, who conducted research in the months prior to Hurricane Agnes.

Doan spoke at the event about his time as a History major at Etown. During his time as a student, Doan was granted the first college student internship with the State Historic Preservation Office, established after President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Historic Preservation Act. Throughout his internship, he conducted fieldwork, research, photography, and documentation about historically significant properties in Marietta.

The scholarship produced by the students is available on online ArcGIS maps, where student property reports are published. ArcGIS maps are used to tell the geographic stories of locations across the world. The site creates web maps, which create layers of data, going from topographical information to historical insights about locations like Marietta.

Marietta is listed as a National Historic District by the National Park Service, and tools like ArcGIS maps help drive tourism to the area, impacting local economic development and improving the quality of life for residents of the local community.

Student research was conducted as part of the “Place as Text” pedagogy by the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC). “Place as Text” incorporates interdisciplinary and field-based experiential learning into honors coursework. The ”Place as Text” pedagogy works well in conjunction with Etown’s Public Heritage Studies Certificate, which prepares students with historical knowledge, research skills, and hands-on practical experience.

As part of the NCHC Place as Text pedagogy, students conducted numerous oral history interviews with the owners of historically significant properties assigned to them as the focus of their course project.

The student research builds on the last six years of the Public Heritage Studies Guided Research and Writing Community-Based Learning Course taught by Benowitz. The course is offered each spring, and future Etown students will continue to uncover and document the rich history of Marietta.

“Observing students presenting their research to the residents of the local community is the very best example of civic engagement and it is rewarding to see the students demonstrating servant leadership contributing to the quality of life of the local community and thereby to the campus community,” Benowitz said.

Photos from the event can be viewed on the Elizabethtown College Honors Program Flickr account.