Throughout the first week of October 2020, the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation (SBTHP), in partnership with the History & Relevancy Project, facilitated a virtual version of the 2019 “Where We Are From” program. Over the course of one week, Santa Barbara Junior High School (SBJH) seventh grade students participated in a variety of online activities, including digital lessons about the history of the Santa Barbara Presidio and the surrounding Presidio Neighborhood. Students learned from historians about how they uncover the past, and discovered the power of place. Most importantly, they learned about how their own stories fit into the larger history of migration to and from Santa Barbara.
While COVID-19 made a visit to the site of the El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park impossible this year, Where We Are From 2020 enabled students to experience these places through specially-crafted videos and virtual tours. SBJH’s talented and dedicated seventh grade history teachers allowed us to take over their Zoom classrooms, and helped us shape a program that aligned with their curriculum and class lessons. This Student Showcase is a collection of some of the things that the participating students experienced and created throughout the week. Please use the buttons below to explore the students’ own work, such as the “What They Brought” presentations and their “Our Santa Barbara Map.” Be sure to check out the virtual tours and exhibits we created as a part of the program, as well.
If you’d like, leave us a comment at the bottom to let us know what you thought!
The Where We Are From program has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor
I attended the in-person version of this wonderful field trip last year and was so pleased to attend again for the virtual version. Well done to everyone involved!