2010 SHOUT Presentation

1. SHOUT ProjectErin Spangler
Alexandria Archaeology Museum
West Potomac High School

2. SHOUT
The following
slideshow
details in
chronological
order the
specific tasks
I completed
during my
two week end
of the school
year project
at the
Alexandria
Archaeology
Museum.This the president of Friends of Alexandria Archaeology Joan Amico and myself after she had presented me
with a complimentary “I Dig Alexandria Archaeology” shirt for all of my hard work in the museum.

3. National Trails Day Historical Bike Ride
My first activity was
helping out with the
National Trails Day
Historical Bike Ride,
which was coordinated
by the archaeology
museum and the
national parks service.
The event had just
been written up in the
Washington Post, so I
had to answer the
phones, preregister
bikers, and reply to
lots of questions. I also
had to check everyone
in on the day of the
bike ride and
distribute snacks.
The event started from two different locations: Oxon hill farm in Maryland and the Carlyle House in
Alexandria. I was stationed at the Carlyle House to check in bikers riding to Oxon Hill, where they
would hear a local history lesson from a costumed figure. I also made all those signs at the table.

4. Scavenger HuntThe bulk of my time
was spent developing
and designing a
2hour-twenty stop
Old Town Alexandria
historical scavenger
hunt that would be
appropriate for all
ages. I was told that
the hunt would
shortly be posted to
the Alexandria
tourism website so
that anyone could
have a brief tour of
the landmarks of the
city.
This is the front cover of the scavenger hunt. I got to use the massive archives at the museum to find
interesting tidbits of information for the stops. Most of my time was spent making the hunt clear
and attractive (with my photojournalism skills) so that people would be compelled to complete it.

5. Sewing BeeI also worked to alter the collars of the
museum’s signature t-shirts so that they
would be more “female friendly”. A lot of
women who come in do not like the high
collars of the shirt so I used my sewing
skills to create a French cut for them.

6. Picture CDThe museum sponsors a summer
institute in which people get the
real experience of being on an
archaeological dig. The dig was
located on Shuter’s Hill, next to
the Masonic Memorial, and the
director of the museum figured
that the participants should
receive a CD of the images taken
during the dig. I designed the CD
(complete with a booklet) and
wrote captions for every picture.
The participants really enjoyed the
CD, especially because they got to
see all the items they had
uncovered properly cleaned,
named, and displayed.

7. SHOUT
• SHOUT certainly gave me an knowledge that I never
would have found on the school campus. I have never
had a real job, so it was great to get some practical work
experience while simultaneously receiving school credit.
It was also wonderful to use my passions for history,
archaeology, and photojournalism, that I had developed
during my time at school in a real work environment. I
think that they were also happy to have me, considering
that I was the only volunteer the museum has had that
could use Adobe InDesign (which I knew because I was
an editor-in-chief of the yearbook at West Potomac). I
was able to complete some wonderful projects for them
and even re-design their volunteer newsletter, so that
hopefully, new and young volunteers like me will be
inspired to help out more.