Youth Heritage Summit - Summer 2014

The 2014 Youth Heritage Project is a partnership between the National Park Service, the Wing Luke Museum (a NPS Affiliated Area), the Washington Trust, and the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. This summer, as part of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Initiative, a youth summit will be held in Seattle. This four day program runs from July 9 through July 12, and will allow forty students to experience and learn about heritage preservation and stewardship first hand.

The project works to achieve four primary objectives: 1) to connect youth and teachers to historic places and landscapes; 2) to engage students in historic preservation and conservation activities; 3) to expand tools to support teachers’ educational efforts around the built and natural environment; 4) to excite the next generation of advocates and stewards of our natural and historic resources.

The location and study topics for YHP change annually: in 2014, YHP will take place primarily in Seattle’s Chinatown/International District (C-ID), with excursions to nearby Port Gamble and Bainbridge Island to visit additional sites related to the history of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in the Pacific Northwest. The program will address several historic topics including immigration, working and making a life in a new country, maintaining cultural roots, incarceration during World War II, and the importance of preserving cultural and heritage resources that tell these stories. Planned program sites include Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service Building, the Panama Hotel and Nidoto Nai Yoni Memorial on Bainbridge Island.

Any high school age student may apply. Full scholarships covering lodging, meals, programming, and travel during YHP activities will be awarded to all accepted applicants. Participants are responsible for their own travel to and from downtown Seattle, but additional scholarship funds may be available for travel assistance.

Please visit Discover Washington: Youth Heritage Project for more information or to apply. Applications may be submitted electronically or by mail, and the deadline is April 18, 2014.