The Jake Menghini Museum of Norway has teamed up with Norway High School to offer student volunteers an incentive program. Norway High School sophomores Tori Trudeau, Gabe Boivin and Jenna Ramlow, along with Museum Partners member Monica McElroy-Denissen, learn about the history of Asselin Creamery from Jake Menghini Museum Director Mark Sertich. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo)

NORWAY — The Jake Menghini Museum of Norway has teamed up with Norway High School to offer a hands-on learning experience this summer.

Six Norway High School students will earn partial academic credit, depending on hours, for volunteering their time as guides at the local historical museum.

The students will also receive a $150 BP gas card as a gift from the museum, museum Director Mark Sertich said.

The program has been an idea that Sertich has been working on since he joined the museum in April 2023.

“We have a dwindling number of volunteers and are getting older,” Sertich said. “We need new and younger people to get involved.”

Sertich, along with Museum Partners member Jo Anne Sternhagen, first met with NHS Principal Joe Tinti and Youth Advisory Committee and Leo Club Advisor Tami Slagle on the possibilities of offering students some kind of an incentive to volunteer during summer vacation.

“They really liked the idea,” Sertich said.

“We partnered with the Norway museum in a way similar to the work-based learning programs that we offer for our students,” Tinti said. “… Students will gain knowledge of local history, along with presentation and people skills.”

Before the school year ended, Sertich and Sternhagen gave a presentation on what the program would entail to five English classes, freshmen through juniors.

Sertich noted the museum decided not to include seniors because they will be leaving for college or getting jobs.

They were happy with the response, with 17 students showing interest.

They decided to just take six for the first year. From the list, they narrowed it to eight to interview for the positions.

Students selected include upcoming sophomores Tori Trudeau, Jenna Ramlow, Marisa Pipp, Deanna Cruz and Gabe Boivin and upcoming junior Lauren Adams.

“We felt these students would be a good fit,” added Sertich.

The students began their duties June 5 and to date has worked out very well.

“It’s going very smoothly and most have come in already having a lot of general knowledge of local history,” Sertich said.

They now are focused on learning enough about Norway history and museum artifacts and displays to lead tours without any assistance.

“They have been working on training as a guide,” he said.

While the museum is quiet, students stay busy studying the exhibits, reading material or doing research in the vault.

Volunteers’ schedules per day will also vary throughout the summer. “Some days we only have one and others we have three,” Sertich said, adding that students selected their own days, as well as total hours, as long as they reach the minimum required for the program.

Volunteer Boivin plans to put in at least 48 hours at the museum this summer.

“I’m really enjoying myself,” Boivin said. “It’s really fun looking around — so many interesting things to see here.”

Boivin said he was surprised to learn convenience stores used to be a gathering place for neighborhoods in Norway and a local dairy once housed a giant milk container.

“I feel it’s worth the time to learn about where you live,” he said.

“It’s great. The people here are really nice — everyone is always willing to help you out and answer questions,” Ramlow said of her first shift as a volunteer at the museum.

Ramlow said she was surprised to find out just how small the Norway area was years ago.

Trudeau has also enjoyed the first few weeks at the museum. “The first five minutes I was here on the first day, I had a tour,” she said with a laugh. “Although at the time I didn’t know a lot, I enjoyed it.”

Her favorite time during the museum’s slow periods has been looking through the old photographs.

“It’s so entertaining. I say for local residents that haven’t had the opportunity to see the museum to come to the museum,” she said.

Trudeau noted she also found it interesting how much out-of-town visitors really cared about the local history.

The three youths are on board to do it again next year and recommend it to fellow classmates.

“I have received nothing but positive feedback about the program by both our students and museum staff,” Tinti said. “Students are able to learn about our local history and then share that knowledge with visitors to the museum.”

Museum patron Monica McElroy-Denissen believes it’s important to get all levels of generations involved in local history.

“Offering this program is a way to connect youth with their town beyond just where we are going for pizza,” McElroy-Denissen said. “It helps to bring in each new generation and their specific needs and wants to create new history.”

McElroy-Denissen added, “I love the asset this museum is for the community.”