St. Martin’s Pilots Washington College Traveling Interactive Museum Exhibit

This past April, St. Martin’s welcomed Washington College students and educators for an interactive, pop-up museum exhibit here on our campus. The exhibit, People, Places, Stories, and Stuff: Exploring Community Museums, was part of Washington College’s Digital Scholarship in Museum Partnerships Project and featured pop-up banners, augmented reality content, and virtual tours that showcased the stories of five of Kent County’s regional museums. These materials were built in partnership with Washington College students, faculty, and staff, and the dedicated volunteers and community members who preserve the Museums of Kent County.

“This is the first time this collection has travelled from the Eastern Shore, and we are grateful to have St. Martin’s as a partner in piloting the travelling exhibit model,” shared Department of Education Chair Dr. Sara Clarke-De Reza. Washington College students in the Museum, Field, and Community Education program, as well as student workers from the college’s Virtual and Augmented Reality and Digital Imaging Studio, joined DSMP project leads Raven Bishop, Dr. Sara Clarke-De Reza, and Dr. Julie Markin in an exploration of the people, places, oral histories, and artifacts they have collected that provide important and diverse perspectives on Maryland history.

Students in Grades 3-8 at St. Martin’s had the opportunity to explore the content and learn directly from Washington College educators throughout the day. “We were thrilled to offer our students such a
hands-on, meaningful experience,” said Heather Bosanko, Associate Head of School for Grades K-8.
“At St. Martin’s, experiential learning is at the core of our educational philosophy – whether through field trips, service-learning projects, or scholars’ fairs. Having the chance to engage with this rich content right on our campus was a truly unique opportunity, enabling our students to dive deeply into this material in a focused, interactive setting.”

The opportunity for this exhibit at St. Martin’s was made possible by alumni parents John and Anne-Marie Poulton, whose daughters graduated from the school. Anne-Marie and John fondly recall the impact of the experiential learning opportunities their daughters enjoyed at St. Martin’s and knew immediately that St. Martin’s would be the perfect venue to pilot the traveling exhibit. Thanks to their generosity, nearly 100 students had the chance to explore the museum exhibits in small-group settings, enriching their understanding of Maryland’s diverse history.