(Geronimo) — Navarro ISD is turning the page to the future –but not before preserving every chapter of its past.
Chelsea Ormond, Navarro ISD director of communications, marketing, and public relations says the district is excited to announce the formation of the Navarro ISD Historical Committee. She says the initiative is dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history and traditions of the Panther community.
“As we continue to grow and we continue to build new schools – we are just growing, growing, growing and we always want to make sure we maintain our roots and our past and our heritage and all of the traditions that Navarro ISD and our Panther community have held on to for so long. We don’t want to lose that,” said Ormond.
This new comm1ittee seeks the help of dedicated community members to gather, organize, and showcase the district’s extensive history.
“So, as we build these new spaces, we’ve got our new high school which will open when the students return in the spring semester on Jan. 7. So, our new high school is opening and then we will be breaking ground soon on our new Navarro South Elementary School off of Martindale Road and then our current campuses that we have now will undergo some renovations so as we continue to grow, we just wanted to make sure to honor our past and we thought a great way to do that would be to create some display cases in our campus. They have some glass cases that we are looking to fill. We just want to be able to provide some memorabilia, some different historical photos, documents, newspaper clippings and really just have a way to showcase our rich heritage,’ said Ormond.
According to Ormond, the mission of the committee will include assessing the district’s stored collection of historical items and seeking additional artifacts from the community. She says those could include old yearbooks, athletic gear, photographs or classroom items tied to Navarro ISD’s early years.
“We currently have a lot of items in storage that we have collected over many many years and then, we are also seeking if any community members have any kind of historical things that they would like to lend or donate to the community. Our committee is going to go through that and sort it and do any kind of preservation that we need to do to be able to curate some really great, unique displays,” said Ormond.
Ormond says the initiative, again, is designed to make the district’s history visible and accessible to current and future students, staff and community visitors.
Navarro ISD is currently seeking volunteers to serve on the committee. Ormond says applications are encouraged from alumni, current families, staff, local historians and community members interested in contributing to the effort.
“It’s not just a working committee. If you don’t have the time to donate to come in throughout the process to be able to sort through some of those things, we do have the opportunity to maybe do a recording of your story or just share a picture of your class or an event that you remember really well. We may even have some video footage where visitors to our campus can scan a QR code in the display and then it plays a fun video. So, we have multiple opportunities to be able to serve without having to dedicate a lot of time to actually help us work here at our district to curate some of our things. There are ways to contribute without having to dedicate a lot of time,” said Ormond.
Those wishing to be a part of the effort are asked to visit www.navarroisd.us/historicalcommittee.