CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. - What doesn’t belong in this group – moviemaking, sixth-graders, service learning, Thomas Jefferson, or Monticello? The answer is none of the above.

In fact, they all fit into a groundbreaking multimedia project sponsored by the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, and Albemarle County’s Sutherland Middle School.

This initiative – Of the Student, By the Student, For the Student – is a 21st-century, student-inspired, service-learning project in which Albemarle County students will produce original mini-documentaries, or “vodcasts,” over the next three months. These productions will present the students’ perspectives on the complexities of our country’s early republic, based on their personal, hands-on experiences at Monticello and analysis of primary source materials.

This project has been made possible through the generous contribution of the Arundel Family Foundation.

All eight sixth-grade English classes at Sutherland will participate in the project, and in turn will collaborate with students in other classes, such as science, math, art, band, and technology. They will select the subjects of their productions and serve as writers, editors, photographers, choreographers, set and costume designers, videographers, public relations personnel, and even accountants to produce the two-minute mini-documentaries.

“We all experience life differently, and the student viewpoint is both special and unique,” said Cate Magennis Wyatt, president of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership. “Students relate best to other students – their peers. So why not take a look at history through their lens to focus on Jefferson and the people of Monticello to bring them to life for young people around the world to appreciate?”

The students’ finished productions will be unveiled in June at the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership Annual Meeting in Charlottesville. The students’ movies also will be used as interpretive material by both Monticello and the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area, and be posted on YouTube, so students of all ages can view them and learn from the Albemarle students’ unique perspectives.

“Today’s young people are connected to a high-tech media world,” said Leslie Greene Bowman, president of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the private, nonprofit organization that owns and operates Monticello. “This is a wonderfully dynamic opportunity for these students to connect the past to the present, to become engaged with Jefferson’s times and legacies and with the history of this area, and to tell those stories with their own voices in their media.”

The project was introduced to Sutherland Middle School on Feb. 24 with an event that featured singer and storyteller Calvin Earl. The students made their initial on-site visits to Monticello on March 2 and 4.

“We believe that combining multimedia with service learning is a terrific way to truly connect our students with authentic history and real life lessons,” said Dave Rogers, principal of Sutherland Middle School. “Partnerships like this benefit the students, their families and our communities alike. This is a wonderful project and we are as excited as we can be about it.”

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation’s dual mission is preservation and education, and Monticello offers a wide variety of educational programs for students in grades 2 through 12. Approximately 15,000 students participate in Monticello’s curriculum-based enhanced programs each year. Monticello also conducts a Summer Adventures day camp in addition to holding workshops and other developmental activities for both students and teachers and offering an array of resource materials in print and online though the “Monticello Classroom” feature on the Web site monticello.org.

Educating teachers, students, citizens, and visitors is one of the primary objectives of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership. Since its inception in 2006, this nonprofit, four-state, public-private partnership has developed a variety of educational programs, including the highly acclaimed Extreme Journey camps for middle-school children in Albemarle and Loudoun counties and Adams County, Pa., along with a high school Summer Enrichment Camp with the University of Virginia, programs for applied history classes in Loudoun County, the semester-long teacher certificate course taught through the Virginia Community College System, teacher workshops, and semester courses for graduate students at the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech.

With 400 years of European, American, and African-American heritage, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground is a National Heritage Area with a National Scenic Byway running through it. From Gettysburg to Monticello, it’s known as the region Where America Happened. It contains more history than any other region in the nation and includes: National and World Heritage sites, over 10,000 sites on the National Register of Historic Places, 49 National Heritage districts, nine presidential homes, 13 National Park units, hundreds of African-American and Native American heritage sites, 30 Historic Main Street communities, sites from the Revolutionary War, French-Indian War, War of 1812, and the largest collection of Civil War sites in the nation.

The JTHG Partnership is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the unparalleled history within the swath of land from Monticello to Gettysburg and has successfully created the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area and has had the Old Carolina Road (Rt. 15/20/231) from Gettysburg, through Maryland, to Monticello designated a National Scenic Byway. For more information, go to www.HallowedGround.org.

Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, is owned and operated by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, a private, nonprofit corporation with a dual mission of preservation and education. A World Heritage site, Monticello is open daily. For more information, go to www.monticello.org.