Doing The Right Thing Summer Proves To Be A Historical Experience
History is boring for most teens. After all, how can the lives of people hundreds of years ago relate to what’s happening in our lives?
I found the answer to that question when I volunteered at the Campbell House museum. By the end of the summer, I felt like I knew this family who lived in the Browne’s Addition home 70 years ago.
The Campbell House, a part of the Cheney Cowles Museum, is a turn-of-the-century mansion. The building is beautiful, but it required some remodeling, refurnishing and restoring to return it to its original state.
I have had the fantastic opportunity to be involved in every one of these areas. There is a tremendous amount of detail involved in the restoration of old homes. From matching decades-old wallpaper to collecting cast-iron pots and pans, everything has to be perfect.
Curator Marsha Rooney assigned me certain rooms that needed furnishing. I’d go through the hundreds of items in the archives and pick out things to make the rooms match the pictures we had of the original Campbell rooms.
By working with Rooney, I learned tremendous amounts about the restoration and upkeep of older homes and their artifacts.
Working at Campbell House has given me insight into a whole new type of arts and culture. During the time the Campbell family lived, cultural activities were a large part of their everyday life, as were the arts.
Helen Campbell, the couple’s only daughter, grew up in the house and kept a diary. In it, there are numerous mentions of theaters, ballets, dances and other social activities. Unfortunately, these are things that our generation has abandoned.
Helen was always busy. When she was 13, she planned her first party. In her diary, she wrote about how nervous she was. All the boys stood on one side, the girls stood on the other.
Some things never change.
I couldn’t relate to all the things in Helen’s life: She was totally rich and burned herself the one time she tried to cook. She and her mother went to New York for school shopping; sometimes she brought friends.
Still, she did a lot of things and wrote about a lot of feelings teens have now.
Being a normal 16-year-old, I too have a busy life. Home-schooling takes up a large part of my day, and I spend a lot of time at my church, Harvest Christian Fellowship, where I am active in the youth group. I also take ballet and French and enjoy riding my horse, Danny. So, naturally I wondered about the benefits of spending my time in a museum.
Later, I realized that not only did the museum benefit, but I did as well. I grew to love the house as much as if it were my own. I loved to walk around the rooms, look at the pictures and antiques and try to imagine what it was like when the Campbell family lived there.
The experience was so positive, I encourage everyone to get involved with a volunteer activity. I feel that “Generation X” needs positive channels through which we can direct our energies. Volunteering can be fun and challenging. Many agencies need the help of young, energetic, trustworthy teens and many teens could use the experience and the fun.
Lately, most publicity about teens has not been good. I feel it’s our responsibility to prove otherwise. I definitely know that our generation is in trouble and that’s one reason I got involved in my community.
Not many adults trust us and by getting out there and being a positive role model we can help restore a little faith in teens. I know teens are the key to our future and even if things don’t look great now, I believe in our generation.
I’ve decided to continue my work at the museum because of the enjoyable past year and my feelings about making a contribution. We are looking forward to an exciting new season. Hope to see you there. Do anything fun this summer? Make a difference in anyone’s life? Here are two stories from teens who spent their free time away from the TV and toward more generous pursuits: volunteering.
MEMO: For the other story, see the headline: Doing the Right Thing Learning about yourself through volunteering