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DiscoveryBound Students Pay Longyear a Visit
June 15, 2009
About 200 students from across the country spent a half-day exploring Mary Baker Eddy's home at 400 Beacon Street in Chestnut Hill, Mass., and nearby Longyear Museum. Then, it was time for Jeopardy!
Wearing shorts, T-shirts, and tennies and armed with smiles on their faces and camera phones in hand, about 200 young Christian Scientists in the 8th to 12th grades, their friends, and chaperones stopped by Longyear Museum on Saturday, May 23, for a half-day of discovery of Mrs. Eddy's home and history.
In a self-guided tour, 100 students explored all three floors of Mrs. Eddy's former residence at 400 Beacon Street. Students visited rooms such as the parlor where the household gathered to play the piano and sing, and Mrs. Eddy's study, where, in July of 1908, she gave the order to start a daily newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor.
Teenagers shuttled from one area of the house to another, according to their interests. "I want to find Adam Dickey's room," said a young girl to her friend and the two bounded up the staircase to find the room where one of Mrs. Eddy's secretaries had lived.
Meanwhile, about a mile away, the other group of 100 DiscoveryBound students toured the galleries of Longyear Museum. They began with a scavenger hunt for information, moving from exhibit to exhibit and picking up an array of historical facts. Then the group gathered in the Longyear Portrait Gallery where each participant was transformed into a Jeopardy! contestant.
The Longyear version of the game began with a film clip from the actual television game show in which host Alex Trebeck asked three contestants, in the famous Jeopardy! answer/question format: "The Longyear Museum in Brookline, Massachusetts, is about this discoverer of Christian Science."
A contestant answered with the correct question: "Who is Eddy?"
Treback responded: "Correct. Who is Mary Baker Eddy?"
Once the video clip from the real show ended, Longyear's own Jeopardy! game began. Longyear Website Administrator Chrissie Sydness played the role of Mr. Trebeck and gave the students the answers to beckon the correct questions. Questions were based on the scavenger hunt the students had just completed through the galleries.
All students had an opportunity to tour both 400 Beacon Street and Longyear Museum.
Showing that laughter and learning can go hand-in-hand, each group scored a perfect round in the final tally - aided, no doubt, by their text messages flying back and forth.
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