Story of the Project
As part of the celebration to commemorate the sixty-fifth
anniversary of Pocantico Hills School, the seventh grade class at Pocantico Hills School
was given the opportunity to make models of Pocantico Hills as it looked in the early
twentieth century. Union Church, Mary Magdalene Church, Pocantico Hills School, The
Lyceum, the Toll House and the Train Station were researched and reconstructed.
Ruth Weyland, our art teacher, and Stuart Zaiman, our industrial arts teacher, had the inspiration for the project. The project was part of the art and technology curriculum and most of the work was done in class. It began in September 1996, and was completed by the end of the year. Teachers, students, and seventh grade parents, Mrs. Giordano and Mrs. Yu, worked enthusiastically and diligently every school day as well as several Saturday mornings. Even Mrs. Gloria Colucci, our Assistant Superintendent, and John Cohen, architect and community member, offered us their expertise.
One of the students, Aleks Jarosz, commented, "In the beginning, it was hard to work together and hard to imagine how the houses would look. However, in the end I was happy with the finished projects."
Research was the first step. Field trips to the Rockefeller trails, State Park, and Archives helped our group to understand and visualize the Pocantico Hills of yesteryear.
After the research was completed, we were divided into two groups. One group worked with Mr. Zaiman to measure the buildings and scale them to size. Guided by Ms. Weyland, the other group gathered materials at Rockefeller State Park including acorns, holly, leaves, bark and moss. We used these natural materials to decorate our buildings. Allison Lynch, the naturalist, provided us with valuable information as she led us through the trails and Archives. Melanie Pera felt that, "The most fun of the project was decorating the houses."
To conclude the project, we visited the Botanical Gardens to view a similar display and felt that ours compared favorably. As Chris Yu put it, "When I went to the Botanical Gardens, I felt that our houses were better in general."
In addition to appreciating our past, the project itself became a learning experience in working together. As Shirley Arcan noted, "I think our grade had great teamwork. I am very proud of our project!"
by Amanda Knapp
The web page construction was done by a group of students in an after school class. The work was done by sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students under the direction of Mrs. Terry Hongell, our computer teaching assistant. We asked lots of questions and learned a great deal from each other. We hope you enjoyed the tour. If you have any questions you can e-mail us at: thongell@pocanticohills.org
Neville Francis
John Giordano
Peter LiMarsi
Andrew Louie
Jessie Ma
Marianne Mandy
Chris Yu
Tommy Vilar
