Dylan Downey, a student just out of high school and heading to the College of the North Atlantic in the fall, says he’s is having a great time and learning a lot from his summer job, which involves collecting and organizing histories of people with connections to Sandy Point and other Western Newfoundland locations. Plus he is earning tuition, through a voucher provided by SWASP, for his engineering studies that start at CONA in September.
Dylan, a resident of Stephenville Crossing, is employed by the Sandy Point Heritage Development and Foundation in an eight-week project that gives him opportunity to retype oral histories collected earlier and arrange them in a way that that they can be exhibited for public viewing. Later he will be doing the interviewing that produces the oral histories.
“The information I have is very interesting and provides a lot of history of areas around Bay St. George. The histories I am doing are about 60 pages each and the people were in their 90s when interviewed.” He said a number of contacts were made during the St. George’s Blueberry Festival where the group had set up an information booth, and he will be following up on those in the weeks ahead.
Chair Barbara King, says the committee is interested in reaching people of different cultures throughout Western Newfoundland – not only people with connections to Sandy Point, although that is also a part of the effort. She said the committee can provide techniques on how to gather local histories.
“The more people we get to do it the better,” she said.
She is pleased that the student worker this summer is able to operate out of an office at CONA, where she also works. She says this makes for a more efficient running of the project than has been the case in past years.
