The Black and White

by August Pittman

In ten years, students of Pilgrim High School will have no idea of what this building looked like or its history aside from what we record now. In a race against time, Pilgrim students are working together to rise to the challenge by discovering and preserving historical records.

The Pilgrim-History Club was founded by Sean Skinnard due to his fear that, “we are potentially at risk of losing Pilgrim’s history between the destruction of this building and the construction of the new one”. He met with history teacher Mr. Costello, who was thrilled to have the opportunity to preserve Pilgrim history, who has both been trained as an archivist and worked at Pilgrim for years. Mr. Costello shared he “went to Pilgrim, started teaching at Pilgrim, did student teaching at Pilgrim, and will end [his] career at Pilgrim.”

The club has met a few times so far, establishing expectations for the club and creating research groups: the Wolves, Polar Bears, Penguins, and Muppets. At their last in-school meeting for this year, groups started to research topics ranging from academics to faculty. However, they look forward to a summer trip to research at the Warwick Public Library as well as more structured meetings next year. 

As part of their mission to preserve history, they will create a website where documents and research will be stored. The website will be created after the bulk of the club’s research is done, so those interested will be able to access a large database of research. This will likely include old yearbooks, faculty interviews, photos of historical significance, and more.

Sean said, “We need history to learn from our past mistakes and make for a better future,” and the Pilgrim-History Club is making this possible. If you are interested in being part of this historical undertaking, you can sign up on one of the many sign-up sheets located around the building.