On April 26, 2019, Aldo Leopold Charter School Youth Conservation Corps Archaeology Crew Students presented a poster and gave a presentation at the Archaeological Society of New Mexico’s annual state meeting hosted by the Grant County Archaeological Society (GCAS). Over a hundred archaeologists and members of archaeological societies around New Mexico attended the meeting held in downtown Silver City, at the Murray Hotel. ALCS students, Will Scott (on the far right in the photo) and Serena Floyd (on the far left), along with their mentor, Marilyn Markel, spoke to the attendees about the importance of preserving and protecting archaeological sites like the Dragonfly Petroglyph Site on the Fort Bayard Game Refuge, Gila National Forest.
They each read a “Thank you” letter written by La Plata Middle School seventh graders to the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site thanking the ALCS students as well as MCHS and GCAS volunteers after spending a day of outdoor museum classroom, “hands-on” education in Mimbres. The experiential education project and education days at MCHS are funded by GCAS and by a grant MCHS received from the Grant County Community Foundation.
The two high school students, along with the other members of the archaeology crew, created a poster entitled “Pieces of the Puzzle”, which explains why preservation is important. Will and Selena presented the poster and answered questions about preservation and how to take care of our cultural treasures. The archaeology crew spends every Friday checking archaeological and historic sites in the area for damage caused by nature or by humans and reports any damage to the land owner or manager, such as the Gila National Forest, or the crew spends the day educating younger students about archaeology and preservation.
Markel and the ALCS students joined other speakers and poster presenters in the event which highlighted archaeology projects and research in the Mogollon cultural region of southern and western New Mexico.
/s/ Marilyn Markel
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