Dominion Foundation Gives $15,000 to Menokin for Educational Programs
On September 30, 2009 the Dominion Foundation gave a $15,000 grant to the Menokin Foundation to assist the organization in developing the Menokin Educational Center for Preservation and Conservation.
Alexander Smith, Jr., Senior External Affairs Manager for Dominion, remarked, "Dominion takes great pride in providing financial support to the many communities and organizations throughout our vast service territory. We are especially pleased in this case to know that this funding will assist the Menokin Foundation with its vision of creating an educational center for the study of architecture, archaeology, conservation and related fields."
Over the past 14 years, the Menokin Foundation has primarily concentrated its resources on the stabilization of the Menokin manor house. However, the Foundation has never lost sight of its vision to become a leading teaching and learning center for thoughtful, innovative historic preservation and conservation practices. Thus, the creation of the Menokin Educational Center for Preservation and Conservation.
At the Menokin Center, students will participate in a hands-on learning environment that is academic, vocational, and experiential. In a holistic and integrated manner, students from all disciplines of architectural conservation will work as a team to find solutions that respect the past while also utilizing modern science and technology.
An established piece of the Menokin Center is the Summer Teacher's Institute. The purpose of this seminar is to provide Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck area public school teachers with continuing education courses that count towards their recertification points. Menokin's Conservation Workshop is another established and successful program that includes a three-day continuing education workshop, held in partnership with Rappahannock Community College, on the architectural conservation methods being employed to save Menokin. Participants are undergraduate and graduate students and professionals in preservation, architecture, engineering, archaeology, history, landscape architecture, ecology and other related fields.
The Dominion Foundation funding assists Menokin in developing a field school track to supplement the established continuing education workshops. Sarah Dillard Pope, Menokin Foundation Executive Director, said, "On behalf of the Menokin Foundation Board of Trustees, we are extremely grateful for Dominion's investment in our programs and the opportunity to develop a field school at Menokin."
Executive Director Sarah Pope accepts the $15,000 donation from Al Smith, Senior External Affairs Manager at Dominion.
A student from the 2008 architectural workshop tries her hand at applying plaster to lath.
Area teachers participated in the History Lives Here program, summer 2009.