Zion Lutheran School students’ history projects center of interesting open house

[March 08, 2014]  on Thursday, the Zion Lutheran School gym was filled with student projects for this year’s history fair. The history fair alternates each year with a science fair. This event has been going on for almost twenty years, and is a program that owes its inception to the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

Zion Lutheran principal Steve Schumacher is also the school’s history teacher. This year, his students crafted history projects ranging from those depicting local businesses like Peggy’s Place Bakery, to Lincoln Lakes and the beach that was a community attraction years ago. Several projects journeyed beyond central Illinois to depict national events.

Many students chose subjects that had family ties. One student wrote a history of Starved Rock State Park near where members of her family grew up. Another student’s project was inspired by family ties to a Chicago gangster who pre-dated Al Capone.

The projects were judged Thursday afternoon by volunteers from the community and were the center of attention for the school's evening open house.

Many of the judges were heard to remark that they learned a lot from the students work. Top projects will be entered in the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency's Regional History Fair that is held in March in Springfield.

[By CURT FOX]