Historic Tunkhannock Walking Tour guide Rich Jones (top) explains the origins of the Wyoming County Courthouse to Tunkhannock sixth-graders, as project coordinator and guide Rick Hiduk (above) speaks of the history of the Gravel Hill Cemetery on Susquehanna Avenue.
Photos by Erica Rogler
Approximately 170 sixth graders of Tunkhannock Area Middle School got a special treat on May 31 as their school year entered its final week.
Eight volunteer guides rehearsing for the Historic Tunkhannock Walking Tour, which will be unveiled to the public on June 25, took the youths through the neighborhoods east of the school and on to the Wyoming County Courthouse and Wyoming County Historical Society on modified tour routes.
Project coordinator Rick Hiduk worked with sixth-grade teacher Sarah Slocum Ergot to arrange for the morning event.
The day started out a bit foggy and cool but quickly warmed into the upper 70s with a blazing sun. The PTA and staff members manned a hydration station in the gazebo on Courthouse Square, which is also one of the featured sites on the Walking Tour, and guides looked for shady spots to tell the history and lore of various structures to the youths.
There was not enough time for the students to visit all 40 structures featured on the Historic Tunkhannock Walking Tour, but participants were enthusiastic about taking their families on the full tour later in the summer and sharing the additional knowledge they learned from guides that is not in the official tour booklet.
“The kids had such a good time and learned so much from the volunteers,” Ergot shared afterward. “I hope to be able to partner again with you next year.”
Students were assigned to color-coded teams and given architectural features and other icons to look for, as well as verbal cues to listen for to complete a quiz that they turned in at the end of their tours.
According to volunteer tour guide Rich Jones, who devised the quiz as a way to fully engage the students with the details of the tour and help maintain their attention, a sixth-grader named Aurora led her Blue Team – headed by tour guide Dianne Rosengrant – to victory.
Each member of Aurora’s team received free movie tickets to the Dietrich Theater at the Wyoming County Cultural Center. Runners up received vouchers for free soft drinks and popcorn at the theater. A number of students composed “Thank You” notes for the tour guides, which were delivered to the theater.
Other tour guides assisting with the event were Sandy Viesczorek, Kathi Keefe, Connie Kintner, Greg Spencer, and Bob Boyce.
“Hearing one of the students exclaim ‘I never knew that Tunkhannock had so much history’ as I was bringing his group back to the school was music to my ears,” Hiduk remarked. “That and the thoughtful questions posed by the students confirmed that we were making a significant impression on them and awakening a quest for more knowledge about their community.”
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Volunteer tour guide Greg Spencer enthralls Tunkhannock sixth graders (above) with the history of the Wyoming County Courthouse on May 31.