A Call for Volunteers!
February 2, 2025 | Posted in Uncategorized | By Alexandria Searls
We’re seeking resumes for volunteers to help lead our educational field trips and special events! Our volunteers include present and former teachers, education and environmental science students, and history enthusiasts. For students, we’ll work with you on a bigger programming project to help your resume and to increase your level of experience. Please send your resumes to us at lcecvirginia@gmail.com. In your email, include a cover letter to our Executive Director, Alexandria Searls, listing your subject interests, your career goals, and your availability. Your availability can be one day a month, one day a week, or mor. For working with children, a background check will be required.
Potential assignments include giving history tours, leading educational hikes, and demonstrating skills in art and science. Leading activities such as our Skills of Exploration workshop and Overboard, our history game, are part of the field trip experience. Volunteer training will be provided. Since most of our days are fully staffed, this will be an opportunity for volunteers who want to work consistently over time, rather than in large chunks of time. We value our relationships with volunteers and have helped many with their career and service goals.
Winter Wanderings
January 24, 2025 | Posted in Uncategorized | By Alexandria Searls
January and February 2025 we’ll be offering Saturday artmaking and special programs! Join us February 8th for beading and other art projects. March 8th there will be a special program on the 20th Anniversary year of our replica Keelboat. Please email us for more information: lcecvirginia@gmail.com You can purchase tickets at lewisandclarkexploratorycenter.eventbrite.com for the Keelboat program. The beading program will be up soon!
National Conference in Charlottesville
June 14, 2024 | Posted in Uncategorized | By Alexandria Searls
Update: We had many adventures last September as we explored history and landscapes. Our tour of Big Meadows, which we developed for the conference, will be available Summer 25.
We’re hosting a national Lewis and Clark conference in September! Info and Registration are available at this link: https://lcthf.regfox.com/2024-annual-gathering
A New Acknowledgement
May 27, 2024 | Posted in Uncategorized | By Alexandria Searls
We have an updated land acknowledgement, thanks to the Native American History class of Charlottesville’s Renaissance School. Dr. Kate Avakian, who is the Native History faculty and an enrolled member of a state-recognized tribe, worked with her students to revise our acknowledgement. We were extremely happy to work collaboratively with the students and Dr. Avakian, within the context of a valued and ongoing relationship with Dr. Avakian and the school.
Here is the student-crafted statement about the process: Renaissance School’s Native American History class, which is part of Renaissance School’s rich history program, researched and collaborated to draft the current version of the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center’s land acknowledgment. Students found this experience to be informative, iterative, and eye-opening, as we spent considerable time researching the Monacan Indian Nation. The Monacan Indian Nation originally occupied the land on which the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center stands and the land on which Renaissance School stands. The class aimed to accurately reflect and acknowledge the history of displacement and disposition that the Monacan people faced and the current relationship between the Monacan Indian Nation and the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center.
Many thanks to everyone involved. You can find the new acknowledgement on our About page, and also here:
We acknowledge the Monacan Indian Nation, the people who occupied and stewarded the mountains, fields, and rivers of Charlottesville, including where the Lewis & Clark Exploratory Center now stands. We actively seek to listen to Native people about the Lewis & Clark Expedition and its impact on the Native people of this area, as well as Native peoples from other communities, to develop a more expansive understanding of the true impact of the expedition. With respect and humility, we acknowledge the Monacan Indian Nation’s elders and knowledge-keepers of the past, present, and future.
Open House for Teachers
December 25, 2023 | Posted in Uncategorized | By Alexandria Searls
We are having four free Open House events for teachers, so that teachers can see all that’s on offer at the Lewis & Clark Exploratory Center for field trips. Those dates are Thursday, January 25, 2024, 1:30 to 3:30; Saturday, January 27, 1:30 to 3:30; Friday, February 9, 10-12; and Saturday, February 10, 1:30 to 3:30. To reserve a spot, you can get your free ticket on Eventbrite, starting out at our hub, lewisandclarkexploratorycenter.eventbrite.com and selecting your preferred time from the list of events. We’d love to show you around!
