Digitizing KP!

Hello. My name is KP and I am a student at the University of Mary Washington (UMW). This fall I start my senior year. I am a non-traditional commuter student who regularly drives three hours round-trip to attend school at UMW. This summer, I’m quite busy. I’m taking an online Digital Storytelling class, attending an Archaeology Field School, and completing a study abroad French course in Paris, France. During my study abroad trip, I’ll also be researching Parisian cemeteries.
This website is part of my Digital Storytelling class. For this class, students learn to curate their own stories using various media outlets. Additionally, students will critically analyze the various social communication mediums. I’m taking this class to learn online methods for presenting the historic narratives of underrepresented groups to the general public.
Personal Overview:
Graduation date: May 2024
Major: Historic Preservation
Minor: Urban Studies
Professional Experience: digital archives management, volunteer training, volunteer management, cemetery care, cemetery cleanup, cemetery preservation, genealogy research
Current Internship: Intern at the James Monroe Museum and Library in Fredericksburg, VA
Current Classes: Digital Storytelling, Archaeology Field School, French
Kelly Pratt
804-286-6413 | Richmond, Virginia | kpratt@aplaceforkp.com | https://www.aplaceforkp.com
Education
University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, Virginia
B.A. in Historic Preservation, expected May 2024, GPA 3.86
Mission Interuniversitaire de Coordination des Échanges Franco-Américains (MICEFA), Paris, France
Historic Preservation Abroad, Summer 2022
- Intensive beyond the classroom study of museums, cemeteries, cathedrals, gardens, cultural heritage preservation, city planning, historic preservation, and building conservation.
- Comparison of historic preservation and city planning methods in Paris, France and the United States
ITT Technical Institute, Midlothian, Virginia
A.A.S. in Multimedia, March 2004, Graduated with highest honors.
Training
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Hopewell, Virginia
What is Section 106, December 20, 2022
Successfully Navigating Section 106 Review, December 20, 2022
Basics of NEPA and Section 106 Integration, December 21, 2022
Coordinating NEPA and Section 106, December 22, 2022
St. Luke’s Historical Church and Museum, Smithfield, Virginia
Cemetery Repair Workshop, summer 2020 and 2021
Howard Wellman Conservation, Richmond, Virginia
Cemetery Repair Workshop, fall 2020
Cemetery Preservation Alliance, Old Cahawba Archaeological Park, Orville, Alabama
Cemetery Preservation Workshop, summer 2020
Related Work Experience
Collection Management Intern
John J. Johnson Archives Center at the Fredericksburg United Methodist Church, Fredericksburg, Virginia, January 2023-Present
- Digitizing archives
- Archive management
- Indexing documents and objects using PastPerfect 5.0
- Creating volunteer training documents
Owner and Primary Preservation Consultant
Livin’ Stones, LLC, Hopewell, Virginia, November 2020-April 2022
- Consulted and collaborated with federal and state government agencies, non-profit organizations, museums, archaeologists, descendants, and other stakeholders.
- GPS and GIS mapping to record headstones, vegetation, and cultural items in ArcGIS.
- Monument, headstone, and grave marker recovery, repair, and preservation.
- Led community engagement discussions.
- Created and led onsite and remote volunteer training and activities in oral history recordation, genealogy research, biography writing, headstone and plot clearing, conditions assessments, and monument and marker recordation.
- Records archiving, research, and transcription.
Cemetery Preservation and Family Services Consultant (Contract)
Enrichmond Foundation, Richmond, Virginia, January 2019-March 2022
- Preservation of 75 acres of cemetery and an estimated 50,000 burials for four consecutive years.
- Developed and maintained existing conditions database of grave sites, markers, monuments, vegetation, and cultural items using GPS and GIS.
- Recorded 1119 headstones and markers, and 52 plots into the burial database.
- Project Manager on three rounds of AmeriCorps NCCC consisting of groups of 8-10 people per round.
- Conducted more than 2000 headstone and grave marker assessments.
- Collaborated with federal, state, and local organizations to conduct research, and identify remains, cultural artifacts, and indications of enslaved persons’ burials.
- Led historic tours and taught preservation classes.
- Co-facilitated descendant meetings to discuss protocols and procedures for human remains discovered through erosion or “Acts of God”.
- Non-invasive identification of and consultation for burials, vault collapses and other underground structural insecurities.
- Coordinated transport, delivery, and placement of headstones and monuments.
- Oral history recordation, genealogy research, biography writing, photo archiving and tagging.
- Tripled state funding for Evergreen Cemetery under HB 1547 by identifying individuals born between 1800 and 1900 who are interred at the cemeteries.
- Assisted over 200 descendants with locating their ancestors’ burial plots.
- Trained and managed 325 remote volunteers in transcription of 10,000+ historic records, creation of 15+ biographies/research papers, and development of over 50 family trees.
- Aided archaeologists with removal of remains from an eight foot tall root ball.
Volunteer, Junior Archaeology Research
Evergreen Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia, 2018-2019
- Transcribed over 2000 burial records.
- Cleared 5 acres of burials using gardening and construction tools.
- Trained in genealogies by FamilySearch.org representative.
- Apprenticed with the head archaeologist and historian for one year.
Other Work Experience
Rater
Educational Testing Services, Remote, September 2015 – Present
- Supervise a team of 12 through a peer-based management system while rating SAT tests
- Rate the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California for grades K-12, the State of Texas, Assessments of Academic Readiness for reading and writing grades 1-7, and the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress for ELA grade 11
- Evaluate speaking abilities of English as a second language speakers on the Test of English as a Foreign Language Research Study Speaking and TOEFL Speaking tests.
AmeriCorps (The Literacy Lab), Hopewell, VA, August 2018-July 2019
- Analyzed progress monitoring and benchmark data within an RTI framework.
- Increased reading scores of all students by at least 20 points.
- Achieved 99-100% accuracy on monthly intervention observations.
- Trained in Great Leaps K-2 Reading Program (4 hours), Data-Based Decision Making (8 hours).
English as a Second Language Teacher
Shangqiu Normal University & Yangtze University, Hubei and Henan, China, February 2010-August 2015
- Designed exams to test fluency in reading, writing, speaking and comprehension of English.
- Presented to classes of 300+ native Chinese students on American culture, education, and homelessness.
- Collaborated with Yangtze International School dean to provide high quality lessons and appropriate discipline to remedial ESL students.
- Navigated the challenges of cross-cultural communication while living in China.
References available upon request.