Digital Archvies Technicians - Spring Showcase Presentations, 2026

Digital Archvies Technicians - Spring Showcase Presentations, 2026

The Starr Center celebrates its student workers annually with the Spring Student Showcase, a time of presentation and illustration of the projects completed and skills gained this academic year. Student ideation and paid labor are foundational to the work we do as well as to students’ preparation for future employment.

In 2026, the Digital Archives Department enjoyed the return of two students who began their work in 2025 - Ayliana Moses and Tristan Gage. They were joined by four new interns - Alex Almazan, Bandit Powell, Bryana Briggs, and Katie Pedulla. This team of six is dividing into three workgroups whose members perform one of three tasks - scanning, database population, or metadata management.

Several local cultural partners and individuals gave the Chesapeake Heartland a large influx of historical collections which students processed over the past eight months. Handling the materials helped them generate their theme for this year’s Showcase - an African American Historical Timeline that for them represented the most interesting and noteworthy events of each vicennium starting with 1920. View each student’s extended presentation by scanning the QR codes embedded in images below.

Metadata specialist Alex Almazan has generated a panoramic view of the Chesapeake Heartland Digital Archives’ contents through his work to improve artifacts descriptions. The work gives him an opportunity to gain an overview of important local events, such as the establishment of a hospital in Kent and Queen Anne’s county. “The current hospital that serves Chestertown and the surrounding communities started out in just four bedrooms in the house of Mr. William Rodney on High Street in 1928. They were rented by the Kent County Public Health Association, which established a dedicated building on the site of the current hospital (behind the canpus of Washington College) in 1935. Construction on a larger complex would start in 1964.”

— Alex Almazan

‍ ‍Read More Here or Scan the QR Code

As aspiring educator, Katie was naturally drawn to the history of schools in Kent County, some of the history for which she encountered during he scanning of an enormous collection of historical documents from former Kent County Cultural Center director Leslie Prince Raimond. Katie’s project explores Garnet schools: “Garnet School originally opened in 1916 as an Elementary School. In 1923 it changed to a high school. It was the only high school in Kent Country for African American students.”

— Katie Pedulla

‍ ‍Read more here or scan the QR code

How culture was made in Kent and surrounding counties became an area of interest for Bandit Powell, which she strangely happened upon while loading a collection of obituaries for upper Eastern Shore descendants. Bandit prides herself on reading as much content available about each artifact she processes. From her readings, she became interested in the social lives of residents and the many images and stories about social events and gatherings that were included in the more than fifty obituaries she loaded. Read more here or scan the QR Code.

Merle C. Brooks was a particular inspiration to Data Science and Mathematics student Bryana Briggs. As a digital archives database loader, she too, came to her interest in Merle C. Brooks as a significant local historical subject while she read his obituary in the loading process. Her academic interests lie in all types of data technology, so Mr. Brooks’ early employment at IBM as an African American was inspirational. She also had the opportunity to talk about Mr. Brooks’ life with Community Curator Carolyn Brooks, his younger sister. Read more here or scan the QR code.

As a local historical figure, Samuel Ringgold has several noteworthy connections that extend in many directions in the Chesapeake Heartland Digital Archives. His life is an example of often-repeated work behavior - “going up the line” [driving north from Chestertown] to Wilmington, Deleware to work for General Motors or other factories in the area. Of course, Samuel Ringgold, Sr. is one of a centuries-long lineage of Rinngolds in Chestertown, Quaker Neck, Fairlee, Big Woods and surrounding areas. Samuel Ringgold, Sr. is the father of Airlee Ringgold Johnson. Sam Ringgold, Jr.’s oral history is linked in the presentation above. Read more here or scan the QR code.

As a baseball player, Ralph “Wimpy” Deaton was among the first African Americans to play in an integrated baseball game in Kent County. He also graduated from Maryland Colllege (now University of Maryland - Eastern Shore) where his baseball prowess made him famous and landed him in the Eastern Shore Baseball Hall of Fame. Not only was Deaton accomplished in sports, he was also an avid local historian. His scrapbooks capture decades of local sports history as well as general local history of Kent, Queen Anne’s and Caroline Counties. Read more here or scan the QR code.