Gathered around a softly lit table laden with snacks and tea, high school students Anika Witsoe, Faith Collins and Ria Smyke interviewed longtime Cordovan Marleen Moffitt on a cozy Monday evening.
The students, along with Olivia Carroll, are Cordova’s Community Problem Solvers, a group of dedicated students working on a community service project to address generational disconnect between youth and elders.
They interviewed 25 longtime residents including Jerry Bendzak and Dick Shellhorn. Their first interview was with Darla Church, who began the problem solvers program some 40 years ago.
Questions ranged from: “In what ways has your life changed from when you were our age?” to “Do you have a favorite place in Cordova?”
Moffitt shared stories of living in Cordova and throughout the more than 30 years she spent teaching, including memories of Witsoe, Collins and Smyke in her kindergarten class.
The group created large posters featuring photographs and facts about the subject. The discussions were also recorded and a QR code was added to the bottom, which will link to the full interview online.
The posters were displayed in the entryway of the Cordova Jr./Sr. High School throughout the school year and rotated every two weeks.
A showcase of the work will open April 2 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Cordova Historical Museum.
As part of their project, the group will compete in the Community Problem Solvers competition April 15 in Soldotna.
For the competition, the high schoolers compiled the interview posters and created a book, complete with a tanned deer-hide cover donated by Patience Anderson Faulkner, with beadwork done by Moffitt.
The problem solvers will also submit to judges a written overview of the project, a list of challenges, a tri-fold poster board display, a scrapbook, and an end-of-project write up.
The first-place team from the state competition will travel to the international competition June 5-9 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The book of interviews is planned to be permanently housed at the museum after competition.
