Excerpted Reflections from The Not Forgotten ~ Charlestown High School
Service Learning Project ~ The Bunker Hill Burying Ground

Working on this project was very useful. I got to know a lot about who died in Charlestown. Most people died in the 1800s….

I am part of the technology commission with Jeffrey. Our duties are to scan pictures that our classmates take of the graves and put them on our web sites. We also have to make new inventory sheets. Without Jeff, I would be lost. He's great at computers…

Mr. Barnett separated us into different commissions. I am in the educational commission. We have to come up with an idea. Therefore, we came up with the idea of putting up a burial ground bulletin board. Some of them will have ribbons with the names of those who are beloved but have passed away. The one downstairs will have photos of the Bunker Hill cemetery…

The school library didn't have the information we needed so we had to go to the one near the school. We went there sixth period every time we could. Our teacher would take 4 to 5 of us to the library, and when we got there, the lady that works there would open a closet that has a lot of really old books of the Bunker Hill Burying Grounds and of the Charlestown community back then. We photocopied everything we thought was useful…

We set up dates to teach elementary kids about the Burying Ground. We will have to guide them around the cemetery and show them the stones. We have to be honest and show how we really feel about this project. I'll tell them I would like to be part of this project again because I really enjoy it…

We have a presentation coming up. The mayor and some 2nd graders are coming to the grounds. I feel that if we just show all the work we have done on the grounds, we'll be okay…. Some days I didn't feel like going outside to work on the graveyard project. Most of the days I feel like working on textbook stuff. The project seemed so long. Now that it is almost over, it is like it went by too fast…

A great experience was working with my fellow students to construct burial grounds art out of recycled material…

To be specific, I got to learn how to work with other people and share our ideas. We also worked together in groups to come up with information. Most of us never knew how being in a cemetery would feel like until we actually experienced it. We all showed a lot of respect during our visits to the Burying Ground…

We had to have everything ready for May 30. That was the day when the kids from an elementary school were going to come and see all the work we did. What we planned was the following: set up a table behind the school on the grounds with the models of the art we did and other table with drinks and scones. Mr. Barnett told us that scones were something people used to eat a lot like donuts now…

When I see all those pictures of us working and at the presentation, I think of how much we accomplished. I also think about our commission. I agree with Mr. Barnett when he says we could have done more work…

I feel some kind of spiritual relief after doing all the work on the cemetery. It's great helping out Mr. Barnett, and at the same time obtaining knowledge about the Bunker Hill Burying Grounds. But the greatest was the actual presentation. It was very nice to see that the first and third graders were interested in this topic, and even though I did not go up to the microphone to say something I did want to…

I had a good time participating. I tried to help out as much as I could. I felt that we would have got a lot more work done if another class was helping us. When we first started, I was confused. Now, that we are towards the end, I have a better concept of what Mr. Barnett wanted accomplished. We have the pictures of the 495 graves on inventory sheets. We have to scan them & then we'll have a folder full of work…

We were supposed to talk about our experience or about somebody who died. We did this just like we planned. The teachers and students from the elementary school sent us an e-mail saying that they liked what we did, and that we did a nice job…