pi beta phi students showcase heritage

GATLINBURG - Pi Beta Phi Elementary School showcased the work and knowledge of its students with a full day of activities at the Bicentennial Celebration Social Studies Fair on school grounds Friday.

Students, members of the community and surrounding area discovered what students have been learning about Gatlinburg's rich heritage during the festival which included storytelling, cooking demonstrations and a musical program plus a student play and displays of mountain culture and traditions by each grade.

State Senator Raymond Finney read a State of Tennessee Senate Joint Proclamation honoring Gatlinburg's Bicentennial Celebration as part of ceremonies which included Gatlinburg mayor Jerry Hays, vice-mayor Mike Helton and City Manager Cindy Cameron Ogle.

Students presented a short play telling the story of the history of Pi Beta Phi related through Lucinda Oakley Ogle's eyes. Students interviewed the Gatlinburg native before her death and retold the story of her life, including her experiences at Pi Beta Phi settlement school.

Students also created a quilt with hand drawings of historic places in Gatlinburg. All students, kindergarten through 8^th grade, made presentations or displayed works during the Bicentennial Celebration event.

"It was a wonderful day for everyone and I am so proud of all the students who participated and worked so hard to make this event special for our visitors and their schoolmates," said Dana Soehn, Parks as Classroom coordinator for Pi Beta Phi and a member of Gatlinburg's Bicentennial Committee.

Rangers from Great Smoky Mountains National Park participated by recreating some of the Parks as Classrooms experiences that celebrate Appalachian heritage for all to enjoy, and members of the Gatlinburg community dressed in costumes and performed roles depicting the community's Appalachian roots.

Students at Pi Beta Phi Elementary School have been busy this year taking a fresh look at the history of their community in celebration of the Bicentennial of the settlement of Gatlinburg.

Each year, students in every grade learn through experiences that focus on heritage. Younger students explore preserved mountain farms including the Noah ‘Bud' Ogle cabin and the Porter's Flat homestead, help with chores by taking corn to the tub mill and try their hand at using a crosscut saw as they see how cabins were constructed. They learn how mountaineers had fun by playing traditional games, making old-fashioned toys, and hearing old time music in the barn.

Third grade students take a mile walk to school carrying their lunch of a baked sweet potato, biscuit, cheese, and apple to the Little Greenbrier Schoolhouse where they have an old-fashioned school lesson. Fourth-graders learn how logging impacted our economy, the story of the formation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and about the community we have now. In fifth grade, students more fully explore how the creation of GSMNP affected the individual lives of mountain people. From sixth through eighth grades, Pi Beta Phi kids take an even closer look at our community development as they visit old homesites, cemeteries, and a Civilian Conservation Corps Camp.

For more information on the program and Pi Beta Phi heritage, call the school at (865) 436-5076.