NEDERLAND - The eighth graders at Nederland Middle-Senior High School (NMSHS) have been working on their annual Local Legends and Landmarks projects. This is a program that brings the students more in harmony with some of the history of the place where they are growing up.  

On April 25, 2025, teachers Judie Sievers and Jesse Mernin welcomed students, families, and community members to the school library to see the students’ exhibits, listen to them present, and listen to their podcasts. 

Sievers began by reading a quote she remembers from her hometown of Mantua, Ohio: “Be proud of your hometown; it helps make you who you are.”

The students chose their topics for different reasons. Some of them felt a personal connection to some of the topics. Some of them have lived down the road from a landmark all their lives. Some students just felt they “had to choose something,” while others “thought it was pretty cool.” According to this class of eighth graders, 31 topics were explored. 

Mining was a popular subject, with different mines in the area being studied. Nederland’s most recent mining hero, Tom Hendricks, was remembered and honored. Chipeta, a leader of the Tabeguache Ute tribe, was researched, as were George Folsom and Folsom Field, and “Grandpa” Bredo Morstoel. 

The Gilpin Submarine, Caribou Recording Studio, Lincoln Hills, Columbine Schoolhouse, Central City Opera House, Rollinsville and The Moffat Tunnel, James Peak Wilderness, and many more were brought to life, their stories told by these young historians.  

This collaborative project was built from the skills they have been learning in history class as well as those developed in their English language arts class. Their podcasts are a layer of technology that seems to come naturally to this generation. 

The room was abuzz as the students shared their knowledge with those community members who came to listen and support them. The students appeared knowledgeable and seemed proud of their accomplishments.

No community is perfect. Let’s hope our community’s youth see the good, learn from the mistakes, and build and improve on the knowledge they have acquired as they become adults in their community. 

Let’s hope that the area’s adults realize that they are always being watched, and that the next generations are depending on them to make choices that will positively affect the future. 

It is important that eighth graders continue to dig up and share these narratives of the past so we do not lose the vital lessons they teach us—or the joy we experience as we learn from history.