Shepherd University students in Keith Alexander’s Introduction to Historic Preservation class completed their service learning projects last week.

They presented their projects to members of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church after the church service on Dec. 5. The church received a detailed map with the locations of gravestones as well as a database with the gravestone inscriptions.

Carrie Drewry, Fredric Martin and Matthew Caldwell described the process of gravestone cleaning, mapping and transcription.

Alexander explains that this is his sixth semester using service learning as part of his historic preservation class.

“Service learning has allowed me to give my students unforgettable hands-on experiences doing a historic preservation project while helping the community,” he said in a recent press release.

Next semester, Alexander will teach two courses employing Service Learning.

His Introduction to Historic Preservation class will partner with the Christ Reformed Church on East German Street to document, clean and map graves there. His course in Oral History will partner with the Historic Shepherdstown Commission to document the experiences of residents who grew up in Shepherdstown.