b"2023-2024 SCHOOL TOURS BRIDGING HISTORIES,BUILDING FUTURESMaking theG R A D EHow MVC school tours brought history andculture to life for one teachers classroomMeet Stacy MikkelsonStudents experience the ap - 2023-2024 Teacher of Distinctiontraditional Chumash housing - in the A third-grade teacher at Pierpont Elementary inDowntown Ventura garden, Jan 2024. Ventura, Stacy has been inspiring students for 26years. This is her story, which she shared at theHistory and Horizons Harvest Luncheon held on April6, 2024 at MVCs Agriculture Museum in Santa Paula.I teach young minds because I understand that small momentscan make a big impact on young people who are just learninghow to navigate the world. I have been taking my third graders tothe museum for many years because it is such a rich experience.During the month of November, I teach my students the lessonsand impact of Native American communities across the UnitedStates, specifically the Chumash of Ventura County. Mythroughline is where you live determines how you live. At the end of the month, IA mom and her daughter learn about schedule our field trip to MVCseeds at the Agriculture Museum in and WOW, does it come alive for They see thatSanta Paula, May 2024. them then! My students are so this isn't just excited to see what they have A museum, but been studying and reallyexperience it! Experience is the THEIR museumkey to success with young learners.My students come away with a grand appreciation for Chumashculture and their own culture. They see that this isn't just Amuseum, but THEIR museum.One student I taught, a few years ago, had a profoundexperience with this type of hands-on education. Every studentlearns differently, and this student had trouble relating to thematerial, went off task, and didnt want to do the reading. It wasntuntil we visited the Museum that the switch flipped. They began toStudents explore artifacts on the see themself in this history and understand the material by relatingtouch table during their school tour in it to their own lives. Today, they are in 9th grade at Ventura HighDowntown Ventura, Jan 2024. School. They kept that understanding with them and now theywant to go to college for history!4"