PHA Video on Picturing America Goes Live

Visit the Picturing America web site and click on "Video" to view a short film featuring PHA Middle School students in addition to Liz Murray, Middle School Director, Jessie Gerson-Nieder, 7th grade English teacher, Mary Kelleher, Middle School librarian, and Trevor Wrankmore, 5th grade teacher.

How did Prospect Hill Academy become the featured school of the NEH Picturing America Program?

At the beginning of the 2007-08 school year Karing Kugel, PHA’s Lower School librarian and Mary Kelleher, PHA’s Middle School librarian, were each awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Picturing America grant. The grant allowed both campuses to obtain a collection of 40 high quality posters depicting art work from crucial times in American history. The collection was designed to support teachers and students as they explore American history, literature, and civics from multiple perspectives and uncover the frequently “untold” stories of American history through art.

In January 2008, the PHA Middle School was approached by a subcontractor to the NEH requesting the opportunity to shoot a video of our classrooms using the Picturing America collection. The video was shown at the White House to celebrate the successes of the grants program and can now be seen on the Picturing America web site. Ms. Kelleher worked with both Trevor Wrankmore and his 5th grade class and Jessie Gerson-Nieder and her 7th grade class to ensure a thoughtfully planned lesson would be presented to the video crew.

Subsequent to reviewing the video footage, representatives from the NEH were so impressed by the learning they saw taking place in Ms. Gerson-Nieder’s 7th grade class that they invited Ms. Gerson-Nieder to testify about her work at PHA before the United State Congress in Washington D.C.

Ms. Gerson-Nieder testified before the US Congress
On March 11th Ms. Gerson-Nieder testified before Congress. Her testimony was part of a budget hearing for the NEH, the organization that issues the Picturing America grants. The congressional session was begun with the viewing of a video that primarily highlighted PHA. An NEH representative then introduced PHA as a model school for the effective implementation of Picturing America and invited Jessie Gerson to read a prepared statement. Jessie, her work and PHA were complemented by Congressmen Dicks from Washington State and Congresswoman Emerson from Missouri. They also ask Ms. Gerson-Nieder some questions in regards to the utilization of resources at PHA and finished by congratulating the 7th grade teacher and PHA on their outstanding work. Gerson-Nieder was the only teacher nationwide to testify on Picturing America. The NEH is requesting additional funding for Picturing America as the organization receives more than 300 applications per day from schools across the country.

Ms. Gerson-Nieder concluded: “It was wonderful to get to present the great work that we are doing at PHA in such a public setting and overall it was an exciting and rewarding experience.”

Liz Murray, Middle School Director adds: “I am thrilled that the work of Jessie Gerson-Nieder and Mary Kelleher has been recognized by the NEH. Jessie testified before Congress on Tuesday March 11th about her work as an English and Social Studies teacher at the PHA Middle School and about the school’s work on the Picturing America project.”