For the past month, a group of six Bronx students, ages 13 to 18, have been digging up the history of Woodlawn Heights, a neighborhood they call home.   Not with shovels, but with laptops and visual observation.

Dubbed the “Student Historian Community Ambassador Class,” the group meets on Saturday mornings at the Woodlawn Heights branch of New York Public Library on Katonah Avenue.  Although participants are not being compensated for their work, they are eligible to receive community service credits from their schools for time devoted to the program.   They are also rewarded with a free pizza lunch after each session.  Most importantly, they are becoming experts on the origins of their local community, including its parks, historic homes, monuments, and houses of worship.

The teens, organized by civic volunteer group, Women of Woodlawn (WOW), is under the expert guidance of Susan Olsen, Director of Historical Services at Woodlawn Cemetery, and officers and members of WOW.

Each week, Olsen presents tips on researching buildings and their owners, using vintage maps, photographs, newspapers, census and military service records, and information databases such as Ancestry.com, Proquest, FamilySearch.com, and Zaba Search.  Olsen also shares the names and stories of important neighborhood figures who worked at neighboring Woodlawn Cemetery and designed its landscape features, monuments, and mausoleums.

On a recent Saturday, students studied the inscription on the Indian War Memorial at 237th Street and Van Cortlandt Park East, then turned to the World War I Memorial across the street.  Participants selected a name inscribed on the plaque, and tracked down family and military history records for the individual honored.  A student spoke about historical details in her family’s turn-of-the-century Woodlawn Heights home, from a ceiling medallion and stained glass window, to pocket doors.

Another described her family’s long residence in a Craftsman bungalow from the 1920s, dating to years prior to her birth.  There was also a lively discussion about the historical importance of a home dating to the 1870s that is presently being offered for sale on East 234th Street between Katonah and Vireo avenues.

At the final meeting on April 16, participants and their families will be treated to a free private trolley ride through Woodlawn Heights, making it easier for them to visit major points of interest as a group, and share with others the locations they have researched.

Funding and technical assistance for the initiative is being provided by a neighborhood grant from Citizens Committee for New York City, and the Historic Districts Council, which designated Woodlawn Heights as a historic community in 2015 under its “Six to Celebrate” initiative.