By Renee Larr
Carmel Middle School has a unique new way for students to learn about the Bill of Rights. As part of the 225th anniversary of the bill, Indiana Humanities has partnered with the National Archives and Records Administration to award 38 Hoosier organizations with the pop-up exhibit.
“It’s designed to help our students learn more about the Bill of Rights, because it’s the 225th anniversary of Congress adopting it with the Constitution,” said Mark Matthews, eighth grade social studies teacher at CMS. “It’s really kind of a nice thing we’ll be able to use not only to commemorate the 225th anniversary but as an ongoing display for our kids to be able learn.”
The school has the display set up in the highest trafficked area at the school, the media center.
“It’s a neat interactive display. It’s things they wouldn’t necessarily be able to look up about the Bill of Rights,” Matthews said. “In addition to the first 10 amendments, it also explains how the 14th amendment extends those rights to all citizens of the United States, which is not a natural connection that our students would make. It also talks about the amending process. It gives them a few case studies where you can see how over time the BOR is still important to us.”
Indiana was originally only slated to receive 20 exhibits, but the demand was so high an exception was made.
“We wanted to make sure Indiana was well represented in the places showing the exhibit. We let them know there was really strong interest here in Indiana and asked for more. They were really impressed,” said Leah Nahmias, director of programs and community engagement for Indiana Humanities.
For more information, visit indianahumanities.org.
