Alexander’s ancestry goes national
M.K. French
Farmer Staff Writer
In a classroom in Alexander, history is no longer just a collection of dates in a dusty textbook; it has become a living, breathing collection of family heirlooms and shared memories that have traversed the country, all the way to the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Alexander Public School has officially become the first school in North Dakota to be featured in the Tenement Museum’s “Your Story, Our Story” (YSOS) project. Led by social studies teacher Amber Severson, the junior class spent the semester digging into their own backgrounds to prove that the narrative of America is written just as much in rural North Dakota as it is in the heart of New York City.
Mrs. Severson, who has taught at Alexander for eight years, was inspired to bring the project home after participating in the museum’s inaugural teacher cohort last summer. During her time in New York, she walked the halls of preserved 19th-Century apartments and visited Ellis Island, retracing the steps of her own ancestors. “Viewing the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island as my great-great grandfather did in 1903 was inspiring and emotional,” Severson said. “I found it surprising how many students had never talked about family history or ancestry with their families, but by the end of the project each of them had learned something new and were excited to share their stories.”
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