Mary Borgia at Stonehenge, not far from where she’s teaching English grade-schoolers about American archaeoastronomy this fall.
When Mary Borgia ’85 completed her speech communication major at Denison, she followed her mind to Ohio State University, where she obtained a master’s in education; the sun to California; the stars to Monterey, where she recorded an album of her own songs; and her heart back to Newark, Ohio, where she teaches at William E. Miller Elementary. But following the moon to England?
It was a long and winding road that started with a growing interest in the 2,000 year old Newark Earthworks, where she learned about archaeo-astronomical discoveries relating to an 18.6 year cycle of moonrises on the eastern horizon. Teaching 4th graders who were assigned Ohio history by state mandate at that grade level, the prehistoric interest became a passion, and along with fellow 4th grade teachers, they mentored their young charges into a unique project.
Labelled “the most effective lobbyists we’ve ever seen in this chamber” by members of the state senate, a team of those nine- and ten-year-olds blitzed the Ohio Statehouse, introducing and steering through committee a bill to make the Newark Earthworks “Ohio’s official state prehistoric landmark.” A last minute counter proposal from Serpent Mound was brushed aside by the small behemoths, and the bill was signed by Gov. Bob Taft in the students’ presence—and within the enclosure of Octagon State Memorial—last spring.
Adding to the pride and excitement for Mary Borgia was the knowledge that in the middle of all this, she had been tapped to participate in a Fulbright Teacher Exchange, where a U.S. teacher trades for a term with a foreign counterpart. And where in the world is Mary going?
When you think archaeo-astronomy, the big site is the monolithic stone circle of Stonehenge. So this fall nearby Salisbury, England hosted Mary as she taught at Greentrees Primary, while Ray Picton, her U.K. counterpart, taught in Newark, Ohio.
For their exchange, they developed a program that made the Newark Earthworks and Stonehenge “sister sites.” Curriculum plans are in the works to provide a unique cross-cultural perspective on the remarkable achievements of the human imagination for students in both schools, on both sides of the globe.