Letters From Teachers
From: Dr. Dale Reimann, Principal, Annville-Cleona Middle/High School [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2009 5:20 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Boal Mansion/Museum Visit, 10/8/09
Hello Mr. Lee,
I just wanted to thank you for our personalized visit/tour of the Boal Mansion/Museum/Columbus Chapel this past week. It was fascinating to learn of the deep/rich history that exists just 100+ miles northwest of our own high school campus. Our Spanish IV students were intrigued by the many pieces that date back to the earliest days of the settlement of our great country, and beyond. You provided a wealth of information as you challenged our students to reflect on their prior knowledge, while providing new (to us), less commonly known information supported by the familiarity of your very own ancestry.
A visit to the Boal Mansion/Museum/Columbus Chapel exhibited close ties to our Spanish IV curriculum; in addition, curricular ties could easily be made across other areas and grade levels as well (i.e., French, History, Social Studies, Literature).
I highly recommend an experience at your location to any local school as a way to bring learning to life with a most engaging visit.
Thank you,
-Dale Reimann
--
Dr. Dale Reimann, Principal
Annville-Cleona Middle/High School
717.867.7700
[email protected]
Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2009 5:20 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Boal Mansion/Museum Visit, 10/8/09
Hello Mr. Lee,
I just wanted to thank you for our personalized visit/tour of the Boal Mansion/Museum/Columbus Chapel this past week. It was fascinating to learn of the deep/rich history that exists just 100+ miles northwest of our own high school campus. Our Spanish IV students were intrigued by the many pieces that date back to the earliest days of the settlement of our great country, and beyond. You provided a wealth of information as you challenged our students to reflect on their prior knowledge, while providing new (to us), less commonly known information supported by the familiarity of your very own ancestry.
A visit to the Boal Mansion/Museum/Columbus Chapel exhibited close ties to our Spanish IV curriculum; in addition, curricular ties could easily be made across other areas and grade levels as well (i.e., French, History, Social Studies, Literature).
I highly recommend an experience at your location to any local school as a way to bring learning to life with a most engaging visit.
Thank you,
-Dale Reimann
--
Dr. Dale Reimann, Principal
Annville-Cleona Middle/High School
717.867.7700
[email protected]
From: Howard McKenzie [email protected], former high school history teacher
To: [email protected]
Date: Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Subject: Tour of the Boal Museum
Dear Mr. Lee,
As a home school father and former high school science and history teacher, I found your tour to be of the highest quality. I have accompanied groups to Gettysburg, the PA state capitol, the PA governor's mansion, Corning Glass Center, a Glider Museum, etc. and found your communication of historical knowledge on a par with any of them. Thank you for your time and interest in us.
Howard R. McKenzie, Th.B., M.A
**********************************
Dear Mr. Christopher Lee,
It is with much appreciation that I write this letter of thanks to you for your sharing of your time, knowledge, and love for history on our recent field trip to the Boal Mansion Museum and Columbus Chapel.
As I may or may not have mentioned to you at the time of our visit, our children have been studying the Age of Exploration most recently in their history studies. Discovering that the most prominent Christopher Columbus collection in North America is located right here in Pennsylvania was a pleasant surprise to us. Our visit to you chapel allowed the children to view tangible and authentic pieces from the Middle Ages ranging from hand scripted volumes, to religious art and relics, to weaponry.
In addition to augmenting our study of the Middle Ages and of the Age of Exploration, we had the added benefit of broadening our knowledge of Pennsylvania history by learning about the family history of the Boal family from the time of David Boal’s secretive escape from Ireland to America to the present day members of the family including Governor Blair Lee III of Maryland and yourself.
The Boal Mansion itself has many beautiful heirlooms that you so patiently led the children to view as clues to history. The children told me themselves that once they understood how you wanted them to explore the house, by keeping an eye for detail, be surfacing their assumptions, and by attempting to gain valid information by discussing the aforementioned, they had a wonderful time. And in my opinion, the process you led the children through, in a fun and interactive manner, was a great lesson for them in a more mature, almost undergraduate level way of thinking. They learned that questions aren’t always asked so that the “correct” answer can be produced but instead that one can pose his own questions and may find answers to these questions by testing the validity of one’s position against the available evidence.
Thank you so much for such a productive day for our homeschooling children. We adults enjoyed ourselves just as much, and we thank you very heartily for your easygoing, generous tolerance with our preschoolers in attendance with us. We will definitely spread the word in the Carlisle and Harrisburg areas to other homeschoolers and lovers of history about the “hidden gem” we found in Boalsburg!
With much gratitude,
[signed] Pamela A. Kole
Holy Family Home School, March 11, 2007
To: [email protected]
Date: Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Subject: Tour of the Boal Museum
Dear Mr. Lee,
As a home school father and former high school science and history teacher, I found your tour to be of the highest quality. I have accompanied groups to Gettysburg, the PA state capitol, the PA governor's mansion, Corning Glass Center, a Glider Museum, etc. and found your communication of historical knowledge on a par with any of them. Thank you for your time and interest in us.
Howard R. McKenzie, Th.B., M.A
**********************************
Dear Mr. Christopher Lee,
It is with much appreciation that I write this letter of thanks to you for your sharing of your time, knowledge, and love for history on our recent field trip to the Boal Mansion Museum and Columbus Chapel.
As I may or may not have mentioned to you at the time of our visit, our children have been studying the Age of Exploration most recently in their history studies. Discovering that the most prominent Christopher Columbus collection in North America is located right here in Pennsylvania was a pleasant surprise to us. Our visit to you chapel allowed the children to view tangible and authentic pieces from the Middle Ages ranging from hand scripted volumes, to religious art and relics, to weaponry.
In addition to augmenting our study of the Middle Ages and of the Age of Exploration, we had the added benefit of broadening our knowledge of Pennsylvania history by learning about the family history of the Boal family from the time of David Boal’s secretive escape from Ireland to America to the present day members of the family including Governor Blair Lee III of Maryland and yourself.
The Boal Mansion itself has many beautiful heirlooms that you so patiently led the children to view as clues to history. The children told me themselves that once they understood how you wanted them to explore the house, by keeping an eye for detail, be surfacing their assumptions, and by attempting to gain valid information by discussing the aforementioned, they had a wonderful time. And in my opinion, the process you led the children through, in a fun and interactive manner, was a great lesson for them in a more mature, almost undergraduate level way of thinking. They learned that questions aren’t always asked so that the “correct” answer can be produced but instead that one can pose his own questions and may find answers to these questions by testing the validity of one’s position against the available evidence.
Thank you so much for such a productive day for our homeschooling children. We adults enjoyed ourselves just as much, and we thank you very heartily for your easygoing, generous tolerance with our preschoolers in attendance with us. We will definitely spread the word in the Carlisle and Harrisburg areas to other homeschoolers and lovers of history about the “hidden gem” we found in Boalsburg!
With much gratitude,
[signed] Pamela A. Kole
Holy Family Home School, March 11, 2007
For more information or to schedule a tour or school presentation , contact Christopher Lee, CEO, the Boal Mansion Museum at (814) 466-6210, PO Box 116 Boalsburg PA 16827 or email [email protected]