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Bray School Lab

"The Â鶹Æƽâ°æ Bray School Lab is a key component of the Williamsburg Bray School Initiative, a ground-breaking and innovative partnership between Â鶹Æƽâ°æ and The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation with the shared goal of uncovering, documenting, preserving, and disseminating the history and legacy of the Williamsburg Bray School. As we reconstruct the Bray School’s history, we aspire to transform traditional accounts of America’s history into a multi-layered story that centers Black legacy at the heart of U.S. democracy."

The mission of the Bray School Lab is to uncover, document, preserve and share broadly the history and legacies of the Williamsburg Bray School (1760-1774) and its students. Research apprentices will engage with current initiatives in the Lab such as family history research, community collaboration efforts, or the history of the Williamsburg Bray School. Through discussions with Lab staff, Sharpe Scholars will choose a research topic related to the Bray School history and align it with their interests and course of study. Work of the Sharpe Scholars has been featured on the Lab’s blog,

 Family Focus

In partnership within the Virginia Cooperative Extension (Virginia Tech University and Virginia State University), Family Focus’ goal is to educate, support, and strengthen families with research-based prevention measures to reduce rates of child abuse and neglect. Family Focus offers science-backed parent/child playgroups, parenting classes, and a curriculum called Al’s Pals: Kids Making Healthy Choices. Family Focus operates in James City County and York County, where the team offers over 100 playgroups a year over 40 weeks at parenting centers in each county.

A partnership within the Health Inequality course, Family Focus will engage scholars in training and implementation of community listening sessions to support the organization's goal of capturing client stories to report on the broad impact it has had - in family health and forming mutually supportive networks across generations of participation. This work builds on prior Sharpe Scholars' research with this organization and invites volunteerism when available.

Griffin School Partnerships

"Together with members of Â鶹Æƽâ°æ and our broader communities, W&M Civic & Community Engagement cultivates equitable and transformational relationships, and provides programming and resources for students to become lifelong community-centered leaders."

Their vision is "a just and sustainable world, thriving communities, and a campus that embraces lifelong civic learning and action"

This pathway supports Griffin School Partnerships, an academic support program, that is a recognized student organization and program of Civic & Community Engagement. This pathway engages students in research and developing a 6-session curriculum for GSP's afterschool program.

 Grove Christian Outreach Center

Recognizing the need of vulnerable families in the Greater Williamsburg area, Grove Christian Outreach Center became its own nonprofit charitable organization in 2004 with a focus on providing food, clothing and financial assistance to those in need. In 2024, a total of 878 unique households were served through our Pantry a total of 10,400 times and a total of 40,734 people through various programs. Facing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Grove Christian Outreach Center reevaluated its services to center more on the overall health of the community by offering more access to healthy foods. Families now do their own shopping in The Gathering Place, Williamsburg’s first free grocery market, for products that include local produce, dairy items and ready-to-eat meals such as salads, in addition to staples like soups, pastas, side dishes and other pantry items. 

A partnership within the Health Inequality course, the Grove Christian Outreach Center aims to build their knowledge and infrastructure for creating Food Is Medicine (FIM) - addressing food insecurity and health conditions within the Grove Community - in addition to their Marketplace. This work builds on prior Sharpe Scholars' research and a yearlong effort to improve health monitoring and education in partnership with nursing students from Old Dominion University. Scholars are invited to volunteer on site as available as part of conducting FIM research.

Jolly's Mill Pond

"Jolly's Mill Pond is a 200 year-old, tree farm and pond in Williamsburg, Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Its unique features have been studied by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and The College of William and Mary. We also have a largely unknown Black history that connects us to Colonial Williamsburg and other sites in early Virginia."

Sharpe Scholars working with Jolly's Mill Pond will conduct in-depth research on native plants or trees that were historically used for folk medicine by enslaved Africans and freedmen in early Virginia. They will combine online research with onsite work. This will likely include foraging and preparing the plants using historic methods.

Literacy for Life

Literacy for Life works to provide literacy services to help Williamsburg community members function more effectively through individualized, one-to-one and small group tutoring for adults in reading, writing and math skills as well as instruction in English for speakers of other languages.

Sharpe Scholars pursuing the Literacy for Life pathway will support Literacy for Life's mission of building foundational literacy skills for local adults. Scholars with Literacy for Life will undergo the necessary orientation and training to tutor a local adult for approximately 90 minutes per week. Scholars will receive support and supervision from Literacy for Life staff as they develop lesson plans and work directly with learners.

 Local Black Histories Project

 "Williamsburg, Virginia holds a powerful place in U.S. history. As the colonial capitol of Virginia on the eve of the American Revolution, Williamsburg brands itself as the “birthplace of the nation” and the “cradle of American democracy." Yet, Black histories of the greater Williamsburg area have often been neglected or narrated by those who did not live these histories. The Local Black Histories Project centers the role of the descendant Black community in producing knowledge about these histories."

Students will support research and community outreach with The Local Black Histories Project, a community-university research collaboration with The Village Initiative. Students will support completion and premiere of a documentary film, including event planning and implementation, and support the production of digital research exhibits and community outreach activities, including local historical walking tours and K-12 school programming.

 Muscarelle Museum of Art

"The Muscarelle Museum of Art is located on the historic campus of Â鶹Æƽâ°æ. The Museum’s permanent collection of nearly 8,000 objects is one of the oldest campus-based collections of art in the United States. The Museum serves as a working laboratory for the university, collaborating with faculty and staff in interdisciplinary ways and engaging students through internships, research and study. The Museum also serves as a dynamic resource for the wider community, hosting original and traveling exhibitions featuring artwork on loan and from the Museum’s own permanent collection. Through educational programming, the Museum aims to serve as a catalyst for art exploration throughout the community."

Are you interested visual arts and engaging with students, families, and children to share your love of art? Scholars with the Muscarelle will serve in a variety of areas, such as Gallery Monitors, Art Making Volunteers for young and old, and Event Assistance. This is a great opportunity for those interested in pursuing a career in non-profit management, to get to experience the day-to-day operations of a vibrant art museum.

Williamsburg Regional Library 

"The Williamsburg Regional Library (WRL) is a vibrant community resource dedicated to serving residents of Williamsburg, James City County, and York County, Virginia. WRL provides excellent public library services, offering access to a vast range of information resources, both physical and digital collections, engaging learning opportunities, diverse programs, and welcoming community spaces."

At the Williamsburg Regional Library, the Sharpe Scholars will have the opportunity to work with our Circulation Department or our Adult Services Department. Every week, scholars can either shelve materials helping to maintain the appearance, order, and availability of our material, or offer their assistance helping library users operate the computers. They will have the ability to alternate between these two tasks and also other opportunities to help with programming, the Seed Exchange, and even a research based project focused on the Library of Things.

 Youth & Young Adult Initiatives (YAYAI) 

YAYAI refers to Youth and Young Adult Initiatives affiliated with NAMI Williamsburg, a local organizations of families, friends and individuals whose lives have been affected by mental illness. YAYAI is offering Sharpe Scholars an opportunity to participate alongside peers, educators, professionals, volunteers, and several organizations to explore what is called "Communities of Practice" in local systems. The experience will give scholars an opportunity to learn and generate new knowledge together, in different contexts of engagement over the course of the semester. Possibilities include a youth advisory committee, peer leadership (NAMI-on-Campus student organization), FLARE by NAMI (curriculum), as well as community assessment, school-based and think tank practices. This experience is best suited for scholars passionate about generating new and emergent knowledge in experiential and group settings, with a sustained interest in mental health outreach and research.

Health Inequality Across the Americas

This course challenges nation-state conceptions of health and community to advance students’ understanding of inequality in an interconnected, global world.  Additionally, the course introduces students to biomedicalization as a complex social process that shapes health care institutions, delivery, and policy on a global scale, using cases to compare across regions described as the Americas.  Students will learn to engage health issues theoretically and sociologically, with critical perspectives on a variety of measures and methodologies that demonstrate human and social difference, perpetuate and challenge inequalities.  Ethical issues such as the human right to healthcare, conflict and cooperation, and justice-driven interventions will be explored in class discussions. This class will also focus on how health scholars study differences in health outcomes across geographic regions described as “the Americas” and the ways scholars conceptualize health differences as forms of inequality.

Sharpe Scholars pursuing this pathway will enroll in AMST353: Health Inequality Across the Americas (3 credits, Tuesdays 3:30-6:20pm) with Dr. Monica Griffin. This course satisfies the COLL350 requirement. 

In this Pathway, scholars will work with one of the following community organizations: 

• Family Focus (Virginia Cooperative Extension): Family Focus will engage scholars in training and implementation of community listening sessions to support the organization's goal of capturing client stories to report on the broad impact it has had - in family health and forming mutually supportive networks across generations of participation. This work builds on prior Sharpe Scholars' research with this organization and invites volunteerism when available.
• Grove Christian Outreach Center: The Grove Christian Outreach Center aims to build student knowledge and infrastructure for creating Food Is Medicine (FIM) - addressing food insecurity and health conditions within the Grove Community - in addition to their Marketplace. This work builds on prior Sharpe Scholars' research and a yearlong effort to improve health monitoring and education in partnership with nursing students from Old Dominion University. Scholars are invited to volunteer on site as available as part of conducting FIM research.

 Parks & Ecotherapy Research Lab (PERL)

"The Parks & Ecotherapy Research Lab (PERL) (formerly "Parks Research Lab") is directed by Dorothy C. Ibes under the Environment & Sustainability program at Â鶹Æƽâ°æ. PERL's mission is to cultivate nature-connected communities that nurture mental health, sustainability, and environmental stewardship. We do this primarily by:

• Conducting interdisciplinary, use-inspired research that enhances understanding of the connection between mental health and nature engagement;
• Applying current research to inclusive campus outreach and programming that supports diverse students in: 
  • Spending more time engaging with nature, both indoors and out, and
  • Developing a meaningful relationship with the natural world.
• Inspiring and equipping the next generation of practitioners, researchers, and advocates in the field of greenspace and nature therapy." 

Sharpe Scholars pursuing this pathway will enroll in ENSP: Parks & Ecotherapy Lab (1 credit, Time TBD) with Dr. Dorothy Ibes.  Students in this course will design and implement parks and ecotherapy projects in a collaborative, small group setting. Students will also practice and lead short ecotherapy exercises for an embodied experience of the work in the field. The course will culminate in an Ecotherapy Student Project Showcase, planned and coordinated by students.

Sharpe Alumni Engagement Project

This project seeks to understand how we might facilitate and encourage collaboration and connections between generations of Sharpe Scholars through community building on . There are two dimensions for exploration: 

• Building the Sharpe online community in One Network: Researchers explore how scholars and alumni want to use the One Network platform to create an active and sustainable online community for connection and collaboration across generations. Scholars engage a design thinking process together to plan and produce content for the online community with alumni. 
• Alumni Interviewing: Researchers conduct relational interviews with Sharpe alumni and incorporating their input in all design thinking to build the online community, foster civic capacity in cross-generational connections toward community action and research, and document the rich histories, experiences, and outcomes of Sharpe’s collective engagement over time. Researchers are trained to conduct interviews with alumni, code data, and integrate results across goals of sustaining the online community and creating a Sharpe archive that documents the program’s history in relation to communities and community-based research.