“To me, the best part of history has always been the things that people don’t always talk about,” said Warren native and educator Brooke Harton.
Harton, a K-6 Library Media Specialist at North Heights Community School in Texarkana, has been selected to attend the George Washington Teacher Institute this summer. The institute is a five-day summer residential program that provides an immersive professional development experience for K-12 teachers. Harton will be one of 25 teachers participating in the first week of the program, which has a theme of Martha Washington and the Women of the 18th Century.
The George Washington Teacher Institute is hosted at Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, and allows teachers to explore the life, leadership, and legacies of Washington and the 18th century world in which he lived. The program is completely free and includes housing, travel, and meals. Participants also have access to the Mount Vernon estate, the George Washington Presidential Library, and interactions with a variety of 18th century experts.
Harton found out about the program through the Arkansas Association of Instructional Media, which is dedicated to improving education and literacy through the use of communications, technology, and media. She applied to the program and was thrilled to be accepted. “I am most excited to hear the stories that we don’t often get to learn in class,” she said.
As a history enthusiast and teacher, Harton is excited to learn strategies and ideas for implementing more history into her library curriculum. She hopes to inspire her students with exciting information and encourage them to want to learn more. “Having the opportunity to step into the past is something I never take for granted.”
Harton is a 2009 Warren High School graduate. She graduated from the University of Central Arkansas with a B.A. in History in 2013 and later received a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Arkansas at Monticello. She is a recent graduate of Southern Arkansas University, where she earned a Master of Education in Library Media in May of 2020.
Harton says her passion for history began at a young age and was further ignited during an 8th grade history trip to Mount Vernon with her teacher, Mrs. Beverly Reep. She is thrilled to return to Mount Vernon and take a closer look at one of the most special places from that trip. Mrs. Reep “was so excited to show us the grounds and of course that astounding view from the back porch looking over the Potomac River,” said Harton. “I remember sitting there with her and thinking how special it felt to be in a place where our first president had also sat and looked out at that very river.”
The George Washington Teacher Institute offers six different weeks with various themes, including The Great Experiment: George Washington and the Founding of the U.S. government and George Washington and the Economy of a New Nation. The program is highly competitive and offers an incredible opportunity for teachers to gain a deeper understanding of history and learn new teaching strategies.
“It will be an amazing experience to be surrounded by teachers and experts who are interested in the same things and I can’t wait to learn from each other,” said Harton.