Mandy Matherly Stowe, who led efforts to bring historic preservation clubs to George Washington and Galileo Magnet high schools, has received recognition for her work.
Preservation Virginia named Stowe, 23, Young Preservationist of the Year for her contributions promoting area history among youths and encouraging enthusiasm among young people for local history. Stowe garnered the award Sept. 26 during Preservation Virginia’s Annual Preservation Conference: Historic Preservation and Community Engagement held in Winchester.
“It was a huge honor to get one of a dozen awards on a state level,” Stowe, a job coach for The Arc of Southside, said Friday. Stowe, who graduated from Galileo in 2006, has also volunteered for the United Way and Habitat for Humanity.
Several factors played a role in the organization’s decision, including Stowe being the youngest board member of the Danville Historical Society in its history and her work to establish historic preservation clubs — the first high school historic preservation clubs in the state — at GW and Galileo Magnet high schools in the fall of 2010, said a news release from Preservation Virginia.
Stowe joined the Danville Historical Society in the fall of 2009 before becoming a board member in 2010. She began a $250 historic scholarship awarded to two high school students — one in Danville, the other in Pittsylvania County.
Saving history for future generations is not just an endeavor for older citizens, Stowe said.
“History is in the hands of the youth because we become history and we’re responsible for it,” Stowe said.
Stowe also recruited high school preservation club advisor and Galileo history teacher Jared Smith to join the Danville Historical Society as an archivist to revitalize its archival program.
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