Cherry students meet their past

Eight Cherry Grade School students are going to the state finals of the Illinois History Expo, which will be held in Springfield May 6. The students going, pictured in front of a display by Drew Pullam and Tony Keeney, are (front row, from left) Morgan Soldati, Austin Schmitt, Tyler Pullam and Matthew Hoscheid; and (back row) Taylor Galassi, Kayla Musgrave and Drew Pullam. Keeney was not present for the photo. (BCR photo/Barb Kromphardt)

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CHERRY — They are growing up in the shadow of the site of a horrendous disaster and live in the shadow of the memorial of those who died ... but it took a recent centennial celebration and a school project to bring the home truth.

“The project showed the kids that something that we take for granted, that they see every day — the Memorial Cemetery, the two slag piles — it’s just part of their everyday life. And then all of a sudden, they realize this is something special,” said Cherry Grade School Principal Tom Nesti.

Learning about that “something special” has resulted in eight of the students receiving superior ratings at the recent Northern Region Illinois History Expo, held at Northern Illinois University Feb. 27. Those students will now advance to the Illinois History Expo in Springfield May 6.

Nesti, who retired from the Oglesby School District as a history teacher, started at Cherry as part-time principal last fall. In addition to all his years of experience, Nesti brought along his passion for the Illinois History Fair. This was the first year for the History Fair at Cherry, and in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Cherry Mine Disaster, students in fifth through eighth grade were required to do a project on Cherry history.

Seventh- and eighth-grade social studies teacher Chris Uranich, who supervised the projects with fifth- and sixth-grade social studies teacher Donna Gerrard, said the students have been learning about the Cherry Mine Disaster since the start of the school year, and many chose the disaster for their project. Some picked the disaster itself, while others focused on the effect it had on the town and its residents and businesses.

Even before choosing their projects, students had to choose whether to work alone or together. Of the eight students who are going to state, two students worked on individual projects, while the other six paired up on three separate projects.

Eighth-grader Kayla Musgrave received the highest score of the Cherry students, earning 96 of a possible 100 points on her solo project, Cherry Mine Disaster “A Small Town Tragedy.” Kayla said she focused on doing a “before” and “after” on the effect of the disaster on the town.

Eighth-grader Taylor Galassi and seventh-grader Morgan Soldati decided to pair up on their project, Elsie Kolbe Hood: “Hard-Working Women in a Small Town.”

“We’re cousins, so we did it about a family friend,” Taylor said. “It was easier that way for us to work together.”

Morgan had an interesting reason for enjoying the project.

“I thought it was cool because it involved food,” she said with a laugh. “Elsie sold ice cream and hot dogs and hamburgers.”

Eighth-grader Austin Schmitt and seventh-grader Tyler Pullam also paired up for their project, Walter Waite: “The Fate of the Waites.”

“He was a relative of mine, and he was one of the ones that survived,” Austin said.

Tyler said he didn’t know much about the story beforehand and learned quite a bit.

Other partners were sixth-graders Drew Pullam and Tony Keeney, who worked together on St. Paul Coal Co.: “Safest Mine in the World?”

On a backboard designed to look like the entrance to the mine, the boys displayed pictures and a map of the mine. The pictures were compliments of the Cherry Library.

“At the beginning, we took a trip to the Cherry Library because that’s where most of the memorabilia, and all the letters and all the information is kept,” Uranich said. “The library gave us a disc, so they were able to print pictures.”

The final project was done by fifth-grader Matthew Hoscheid, who did the Cherry Fire Department: “From Fire Brigade to Steam Engine.” Matthew came by his topic naturally.

“My dad, my grandpa, my uncles and my cousins are all firefighters, and I like firefighting,” he said.

“You can tell a lot of them picked things that went with their personalities or their lives,” Uranich said. “Everybody tried to pick something they liked, so that they would enjoy what they were doing.”

For the projects, the students needed to write a paper and come up with a backboard for their project. The projects were first unveiled to the public at a history fair at the school in November.

Nesti said the projects were beyond his “wildest expectations.”

“I thought they accomplished at a much higher level than I ever anticipated for the first year of them ever doing it,” he said. “The two teachers, Donna and Chris, it’s just an unbelievable job that they did.”

Earlier this year, the students went on a field trip to Springfield and saw the display on the Cherry Mine Disaster.

“I think it really struck a nerve that this is something special when we went down to Springfield, and the whole second floor of the Lincoln Library was devoted to the Cherry Mine Disaster,” Nesti said. “There were newspapers, radio and TV there, interviewing the teachers, and I think all of a sudden the students said, ‘Wow, this is a big deal.’”

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