Jr. Historians Club meets Monday 3:35-4:30 in room 720

Sponsors: Charles Nugent, Ron Goins, and Will Waghorne



Open to all Hopewell M.S. students, the Jr. Historians of Texas is a club associated with the National History Club and the Texas State Historical Association. Field trips and projects focus on Texas and local history. Through a partnership with the Williamson County Historical Museum, students are encouraged to learn about their local history and take steps to preserve it. During field trips, Jr. Historians research and visit historical sites throughout the state of Texas, in addition to participating in various community service projects throughout the year. Each Hopewell Middle School Jr. Historian club member also receives a club ID card as part of their club membership.

Our club has received the TSHA Outstanding Chapter Achievement Award, as well as top honors for Chapter Project and numerous individual awards each year. At the 2009 TSHA History Fair and Meeting in Dallas, the club won the Grand Prize for their Chapter Project on Union Hill cemetery with assistance from the Texas Historical Commission, the RIP Guardian Program, and the Williamson County Guardians and Williamson County Historical Museum.

Visit our Union Hill cemetery project page here or check out the documentary below.

See the award-winning documentary from our 2009 Chapter Project below:

Community Service and In-school Activities:

January 16th, 2010 - MLK Community Service Project:

Students made blankets for Family Eldercare, assisted a food drive, and participated in the 22nd Annual Round Rock Martin Luther King, Jr march from CD Fulkes Middle School to the Baca Center.






November 12, 2009 - Troop Care Packages for Veterans' Day, RRISD Press Release:

As Hopewell Middle School and Stony Point High School students celebrate the holidays this year, they can celebrate knowing a soldier deployed overseas is a little warmer due to their efforts. As part of “Christmas Over There,” started by Hopewell Middle School Attendance Clerk Tonie Moya students and parents donated fleece blankets, cookies and letters to soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“This makes the seventh year I have sent packages to Iraq and Afghanistan to some of the students’ family members serving,” Moya said. “This year we have a brother and two fathers serving – Sgt. Clifford Lindell has a daughter who attends Hopewell, PFC Brian Parrish is a former Hopewell student and has a brother currently at Hopewell and PFC Wadlington has a son here.”
Moya started the mission at the start of the Second Gulf War in 2003 and said as part of the mission, she has her Attendance Aides participate as part of their final grade of the semester by writing a letter to a soldier telling the soldier what they are learning in school. In addition to the Attendance Aides, Moya received help from the Hopewell Jr. Historians Club who donated time, holiday letters, and blankets. Moya said she was asked this year by a parent if some of the students from Stony Point could help with the effort as part of their service hours and she was happy to have the help from the students and parents of both school communities.
“We have received so many wonderful blankets and homemade cookies from students and staff along with parents from Hopewell,” Moya said. “I even have a parent who has offered to help me mail everything as the boxes can be pricey to send.”
Students packaged boxes before leaving for Thanksgiving break as Moya needed to get the packages in the mail by Dec. 1 in order for them to arrive in Iraq and Afghanistan by Dec. 25.

Below: Jr. Historians Kayla Ann Walters and Danny Cabrera assist Mrs. Tonie Moya




November 24, 2009 - Union Hill Cemetery Historic Designation Ceremony RRISD Press Release:

The Texas Historical Commission (THC) will host a dedication ceremony to commemorate Union Hill Cemetery being designated as a Historic Texas Cemetery on Friday, Dec. 4 at 5 p.m. The cemetery, located at FM 1460 and CR 186, was chosen for distinction due in part to the hard work of the Hopewell Middle School Jr. Historians.

The distinction means the cemetery has been legally recorded through the THC’s Historic Texas Cemetery Program, an important step in ensuring its preservation. This designation is reserved for cemeteries that are at least 50 years old and documented through the Historic Texas Cemeteries process to record their historic association and significance. Speakers for the event will include Anne Shelton (RIP Program/Texas Historical Commission), Chris Dyer (Williamson Museum), Mike Quick (Williamson County Historical Commission), Mike Hurewitz (Round Rock ISD Service Learning), Anthony Watson (Principal, Hopewell Middle School), Pastor John Gurley (community member who maintains UHC) and the Hopewell Middle School Jr. Historian sponsors, club president and vice president.

“This designation is a tool that will increase public awareness of these important cultural resources,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the THC. “Knowledge and education are among the best ways to guarantee the preservation of a historic cemetery.” Cemeteries hold valuable historic information and they are often the last reminders of early settlements’ historical events, religious beliefs, lifestyles and genealogy. While the Historic Texas Cemetery designation encourages cemetery preservation, it cannot guarantee that a historic cemetery will avoid destruction. Threats to historic cemeteries include urban expansion and development, vandalism, grazing animals and long-term deterioration from weather and uncontrolled vegetation.

"It is refreshing to see this group of kids and sponsors (i.e. Hopewell Middle School Jr. Historians) so dedicated to preserving their community's history,” Chris Dyer of the Williamson County Historical Commission said. “This is a great project and we hope that other schools in Williamson County will be encouraged to follow their example."

Speakers for the Union Hill Historic Designation Ceremony:

Living History Project records oral histories on Martin Luther King Day - February 19th, 2009

"In just a few hours, Barack Obama becomes the first African-American man to take the Presidential Oath of Office. His inauguration, coming a day after the holiday paying tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior, brings forth imagery that many people never thought they would see in their lifetimes.
Lydia Crafts reports that the link between Dr. King and President-elect Obama was especially strong for a group in Round Rock." - KUT Public Radio Feature





Joseph Robinson talks to kids at Hopewell (Photo by KUT)









Hopewell Veterans' Day Honor Ceremony - The Jr. Historians provided the veterans of Hopewell Middle School lapel pins to recognize their service to our country. November 11th, 2008






Buffalo Soldiers for Interactive Civil War Presentation. November 17th, 2008



The Buffalo Soldiers are sponsored by the Hopewell Jr. Historians club and visit the school annually . Dressed in Civil War era uniforms, several members of the Camp Mabry Buffalo Soldiers, Company A - 9th Calvary visit the school to educate students about the history of the unit. They also show the students their equipment, tell how they lived and what they did, answer student questions about life in the 1800s on the frontier as a Buffalo Soldier, and put on a living history demonstration of the Buffalo Soldiers.
African Americans have fought in military conflicts since colonial days. However, the Buffalo Soldiers, comprised of former slaves, freemen and Black Civil War soldiers, were the first to serve during peacetime, after the end of military campaigns. Throughout the era of the Indian Wars, approximately twenty percent of the U.S. Cavalry troopers were Black. The combat prowess, bravery, tenaciousness, and looks on the battlefield, inspired the Indians to call them "Buffalo Soldiers." Many Indians believe the name symbolized the Native American's respect for the Buffalo Soldiers' bravery and valor.
– From RRISD Press Release Nov. 13th, 2008





Project VOTE/Youth Leadership Initiative (YLI) - Annual school-wide Presidential/State Mock Election

Up the Chisolm Trail Event in Georgetown and Archeology Day - Annual Service Learning volunteer effort with the Williamson Museum

Jr. Historians raise the school colors each Monday morning during the school year.

Our club petitioned for new US and Texas flags from the school administration, and received them in the fall of 2007. We donated our Texas flag to Texas troops stationed in Iraq thanks to members of the Hopewell family, Doreen Kennedy and her son, former Hopewell Hornet PFC Stephen C. Kennedy.


Feb. 11th, 2007,Judge Ken Anderson, 277th District Court, Williamson County, Texas lectured students on historical writing and his research of Dan Moody. Students received copies of his biography, Nolan Ryan: Texas Fastball to Cooperstown.


Texas Quiz Show school-wide competition and Regional Matches were held in April. Thanks to the 2009 Hopewell representatives: Hugo Chavez, Jessica Reyes, Udit Bhatt, Ashleigh Hawkins, Nick Tibbits, and Cody Moore.