Alexis Reddinger presents her cultural geography project to the class. (By Zoe Albert/Student contributor)
Alexis Reddinger proudly displays her Native American dwelling. (By Zoe Albert/Student contributor)
7th-grader Brooke Ley explains her Native American dwelling during her presentation. (By Zoe Albert/Student contributor)
Unique Native American habitat made in Chris Svolos’s History class (By Gabe Dresbach/Student contributor)
Native American dwelling created by a student in Chris Svolos’s 7th-grade History class (By Gabe Dresbach/Student contributor)
Cultural Geography project created in 7th-grade History class (By Gabe Dresbach/Student contributor)
Native American dwelling made for a cultural Geography project in Chris Svolos’s History class (By Gabe Dresbach/Student contributor)
Part of a habitat created for a Native American dwelling in 7th-grade History class (By Gabe Dresbach/Student contributor)
By ADY CARTER
Student contributor
For the past 20 years, 7th-grade students in Chris Svolos’s history class built Native American houses as part of a lesson about cultural geography and how it affects where people live.
Svolos said that she particularly liked this project because, “It’s equalizing to everyone. You’re not supposed to spend money but go outside and be creative.”
The class is assigned a tribe, and, depending on the location, they are to build a house that is suited for the given area. This includes longhouses, wigwams, or even pueblos. It all depends on the resources in the region that the tribe used.
This year, student Kelsey Hanna said, “The most stressful part was that I didn’t have that much time to make my project due to sports and activities so I made it in a time crunch, but I liked building the house because I like constructing and putting things together.”
Along with building the houses, students had to research and write a speech about their chosen tribe and present it to the class, all within one week.
Hanna later stated that, “The speech wasn’t as hard as I thought because my friends were in the audience and I knew my information. I became part of my tribe.”
Ady Carter, Zoe Albert and Gabe Dresbach are students at Cranberry High School and members of Cranberry Chronicles, the school’s journalism/publications class.
