One of the fun things that Tom and I get to do at Fort Frederica National Monument is help with school groups.  Ellen Provenzano is currently in charge of school groups.  Ellen wears a lot of hats in the park.  She is the bookstore manager, the archaeology specialist, and the education coordinator.  She only gets paid for being the bookstore manager.  She does the other things because she is a retired teacher who cares about kids and Fort Frederica.

With the staffing shortage at Fort Frederica, doing anything extra depends on volunteers.  Ellen schedules as many school groups as she can during the short winter when the volunteers are here.  The weather was so lousy in January that several of the groups rescheduled for March.  Consequently, March has been busy with school groups.

One of the school groups that came was 2nd graders from Pierce County School District.  They drove 90 minutes to get to the park and stayed all day once they got here.  Ellen divided the 120 students into four groups and put them into morning and afternoon rotations.  In the morning Tom and I talked about daily life for the earliest colonists in Georgia.  Another group watched the movie in the Visitors Center.  Ranger Bob and volunteer Mary took one group for colonial games.  Ellen talked to the fourth group about the history of Frederica.

In the afternoon we rotated jobs as well as children.  I talked about candlemaking at one station.  Tom talked about being a soldier.  Ellen talked about Mary Musgrove and Tomochichi, the Native Americans connected with Fort Frederica.  Ranger Bob gave a town tour.  By the end of the day, I could barely talk and the kids were very tired.  They had been extremely polite and well behaved and it looked like they would fall asleep on the bus going home.  The teachers were appreciative of their good day out and eager to reschedule for next year.

Another school group was from St. Francis Xavier Catholic School in Brunswick.  They brought 30 3rd graders who were here for two days, but only stayed for the mornings.  The first day Tom and I assisted with our colonial life talk.  The second day the students concentrated on archaeology so we didn’t see them much.  When the group from Oglethorpe Point Elementary made their annual visit, Tom did all the living history and I gave town tours – four of them!

Tom and I love working with the school groups.  The kids are really fun and ask great questions.  They have so much energy and curiosity, which makes them a delight.  They also love to see Tom and me in our historical outfits.  Well, Tom more than me because he is much brighter in his soldier’s uniform.  But it is also tiring.  I’m not used to talking as much as I do with the school groups.  After a day with the kids, I don’t have much of a voice left.

National Park sites need all the volunteers they can get right now as they struggle with staffing.  Without the volunteers here at Fort Frederica, it would be impossible to host school groups.  Whether we are RV volunteers or local volunteers who come in one day a week, we are valued and necessary.