The National Endowment for the Humanities has announced that Saint Raymond Academy for Girls, located in Parkchester, is a 2008 Picturing America award recipient. The Picturing America program introduces citizens of every age to our nations’ history and culture by bringing great works of American art into classrooms and libraries.
“We are so pleased to receive Picturing America,” said principal Sr. Mary Ann D’Antonio. “These materials will be a wonderful resource for our English and Social Studies curriculums. Students in the 21st century are visual. Paintings and photographs such as these will help motivate the students to learn about our history so that they can fully understand the significance of events that they are studying. In addition, using these materials in English classes will assist teachers in bringing the settings and characters of American literature to life,” said Librarian Lourdes Torres.
As an award winner, Saint Raymond Academy will receive a collection of 40 high-quality reproductions, along with a teacher’s resource book. The resource book includes information on all the images and suggestions for using them to enhance classroom and library learning in a wide range of subjects including American history, social studies, writing, literature and civics.
“These materials will be helpful to students taking American History and Constitutional Law. We will be able to now see the past because the texts have limited illustrations. I think these paintings will help to make these subjects more interesting,” said senior Paula Rondon.
“The Endowment believes that Picturing America should be in every school and public library in the United States,’ said NEH chairman Bruce Cole. “Picturing America helps us understand our democracy by bringing us face to face with the people, places and events that have shaped our country. It provides an innovative way to experience America’s history through our nation’s art.”
Picturing America is distributed by the NEH in cooperation with the American Library Association (ALA).
