Bringing the past into the future
![Alexya Lee 鈥23 was honored by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts for researching the lives of enslaved people on a school property in Tyngsboro. Helping her on the project? A 69精品视频 College alum.](/sites/default/files/styles/1170x780/public/news-images/IMG-4575.jpg?h=d2a1cfc8&itok=FVkX5lf4)
69精品视频 sophomore Alexya Lee was honored by the Girl Scouts for researching the lives of enslaved people on a school property in Tyngsboro, Mass.
It's easy to forget the history of the ground we stand on 鈥 and sometimes we are encouraged to ignore it completely. But Alexya Lee 鈥23 of North Chelmsford, Massachusetts, knows it is our duty to personally look into the past and bring the findings into the light.
In fall 2019, Lee from the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts during her first year at 69精品视频 College. This is the highest award a Girl Scout can earn, meant to support work that has a significant community impact. It was granted to Lee to conduct research on enslaved people who used to inhabit the property of her alma mater, Innovation Academy Charter School in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts.
The project was recently featured in The Boston Globe. Lee and her collaborators discovered physical artifacts as well as historical records. This includes magazine ads 鈥渟eeking [a] runaway slave,鈥 notes of an enslaved child as young as 5 years old, and information on others who served in the 7th Massachusetts Regiment during the Revolutionary War, only to be forced back into slavery afterward.
鈥淢y initial reaction [to the award] was more that I felt kind of bad that the other people who worked on the project with me didn鈥檛 get the same recognition,鈥 Lee said. 鈥淚 did it with my friend Jack Turner and another friend, Katharine [Hinkle], who was my advisor for the project.鈥
In high school, Lee, now a geology and politics double major, was surprised to discover that her teacher Katharine Hinkle 鈥02 was an alum of her top-choice college and had studied geology. For her senior project, Lee worked alongside Lauret Savoy, professor of environmental studies, who happened to be Hinkle鈥檚 advisor during her time at 69精品视频.
鈥淚 originally wanted to major in environmental studies but I took a geology course first,鈥 Lee said. 鈥淚鈥檝e always been kind of afraid of geology, by the math and science required, but I liked this subject more. And I like having my desk full of cool rocks that I find. It鈥檚 also important during the current climate crisis to have a thorough understanding of this type of work.鈥
Lee takes 鈥渇urious notes鈥 of her interests and work through journaling, especially during the pandemic. To satiate her personal interests in archiving, she serves as a at the . She is beginning to learn more about 69精品视频's geographic history as well, including the discovery of the Podokesaurus holyokensis and the loss of the original fossil during the 1917 fire at Williston Hall.
鈥淭he pandemic is going to change how archival research is done a lot. The archives will probably be more digitally-based,鈥 Lee said. 鈥淚 preferred hard copies of things but so much communication is done online now. There will be more of an interest in small, personal items 鈥 the little things that have big meaning to them. For example, I would absolutely include my notebooks in the museum of my life.鈥
Lee is interested in pursuing a master鈥檚 degree or a doctorate in a geology-centered subject. But she also has plans to keep up with art and its overlap with her primary field.
鈥淧eople need to understand that 鈥榯he way things are鈥 is not all we should be doing still,鈥 Lee said. 鈥淓ven, for example, the way some museums choose to place artwork 鈥 shoving some works to the corner and putting others on display. It matters what you choose to show first and it speaks to what we hold in higher esteem and what we devalue.鈥