Arthur H. Veasey III before the Haverhill City Council last year. (WHAV News photograph.)
Haverhill native Arthur H. Veasey III is one of seven new commissioners of the Essex National Heritage Commission elected Thursday.
Veasey, of West Newbury, is vice president of Whittier Birthplace. New commissioners and trustees were elected at the annual fall meeting at Flint Public Library, Middleton. Essex Heritage is governed by a 25-member board of trustees and supported by 150 commissioners who live and/or work within Essex County.
Essex Heritage and the National Park Service also present the Pioneer in Partnership Awards to five recipients, including Germaine Koomen, a teacher at Hill View Montessori Charter Public School in Haverhill. Koomen was recognized for her leadership and commitment to Heritage Education.
For two years, Germain participated in “Park for Every Classroom,” an Essex Heritage program that exposes teachers to various techniques for using community resources in classrooms. Her students spent one school year exploring energy sources and how they affect the local region. Among other activities, they visited Covanta to see how some energy is generated from trash, analyzed their own individual energy uses at home and school and worked with the Northeast Urban Forest Advocacy to understand the benefits of their inventory of trees on campus. They shared what they learned at an Energy Fair celebration to create awareness about these issues in the larger school community.