SIDMAN, Pa. (AP) - Dylan Wechtenhiser admits he didn’t know much about the 1977 Johnstown Flood before working on a project for his Forest Hills High School composition class project.
Interviewing flood survivors and researching news accounts and historical records gave the ninth-graders some personal perspective on the disaster.
“We learned what some of the people who had to go through the flood had to go through many hardships to survive and to get back to their families and loved ones,” Dylan said at the school in Sidman.
Students in Aspen Mock’s freshman composition classes spent several weeks exploring the events of July 20, 1977, and the weeks and months of recovery. The results of that work are featured in eight YouTube videos featured on the Johnstown Area Heritage Association website, www.jaha.org.
By interviewing family members, friends and neighbors who experienced the flood, students were able to see the events from a different perspective, Mock said.
“This was a unique opportunity to do qualitative interviews,” she said. “There are actually a lot of stories that were untold.”
Matthew Rozum was part of a team that interviewed his grandfather, Timothy Troy Sr., who was working in a Johnstown rail yard when the rain began that night.
“It was like a normal day,” Matthew said. “It started raining and it was like the storm got stuck. Luckily, my grandfather called off the workers before the dams broke.
“The railroad company was close to one of the dams. He supervised the men, and got everybody home before it was too nasty out.”
Troy told the students when he was going home, he had to abandon his truck. He made his way to Bon Air, Conemaugh Township, where he ended up spending the night helping a stranger clean out his garage.
Students worked with JAHA curator Andrew Lang, who provided archival photos and artifacts from the flood for inclusion in the digital story videos.
“It shows how significant the memories of this event are in the area,” Lang said. “It is very much a part of this region. It’s something that defines the area and continues to have an effect and impact.”
Class research began with historical information about a line of severe thunderstorms that stalled over Johnstown, dropping as much as a foot of rain in some areas. Small streams overflowed their banks, crashing through neighborhoods, highways and businesses. Laurel Run Reservoir and several other dams failed. The death toll reached 85, and property damages was estimated at $300 million.
But personal stories from survivors added a new dimension, the students said.
Hearing Matthew Rozum’s grandfather tell how the flood continued to affect him for years struck a chord with classmate Kailyn Jones.
“It hit me, hearing how his grandfather would hear the sound of rushing water years after the flood, and it would scare him, and remind him of the flood,” Kailyn said.
Although she was part of the group who interviewed Troy, Samantha Heilmann also did some family research.
“I actually got some sources from my grandmother: Some journals and newspapers,” Samantha said.
Ian Dobbins’ group interviewed flood survivor Penny Myers, whose neighbor was rescued during the flood.
“Her friend was in a car when the flood hit,” Ian said. “They had to drag her out of it.”
Ian said the project was eye-opening.
“We learned more about our history,” he said. “I didn’t even know about it. We learned the damage that happened and how it affected our parents and grandparents.”
Both Ian and Dylan said the power of the floodwaters amazed them. Ian said descriptions of bridges collapsing from the onrush was shocking.
“I saw a picture of Route 56 going into Johnstown and the entire one side was missing,” Dylan said. “That highway has been there my entire life. I didn’t expect it to be just washed away like that.”
The students’ digital story projects followed the National Geographic Learning framework, which encourages students to become explorers not only of their local surroundings, but of the region, said Mock, who recently became a National Geographic certified educator.
“Storytelling and passing stories along from generation to generation is the fabric of our culture,” Mock said. “Through this project, students had the unique opportunity to record stories from their parents, grandparents, friends and faculty in the school. The digital storytelling component allowed them to engage in cultural dialogue about the human journey.”
Lang said the students work represent an important component of preserving and sharing history.
“This project is a good example of the kind of work museums do - from conducting first-hand research to selecting different objects and photographs,” Lang said. “These students showed a real knack for it.”
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Information from: The Tribune-Democrat, http://www.tribune-democrat.com
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