Project Based Learning Electives provided by the Berrien Springs Virtual Academy
Archaeology Plus Spring 2026
All students must complete a project for these classes.
*Find this class listed under the Humanities or Vocational category during registration.
Instructors: Jan Sigvartsen PhD, Leanne Sigvartsen
Email: lsigvart@gmail.com
Phone: 269-363-3968
Website: See tarragindi.org for more details
Ages: 8 and up
Location: various locations, see syllabus for details
Required Orientation: January 6th or 8th, 6pm-8pm
Day & Time: Mondays 4pm-6:30pm OR Fridays 1pm-3:30pm, see syllabus for details
Course Overview: In this program, you will participate in a much-needed community project to preserve and restore the Long Lake Cemetery, where many of Berrien County’s earliest settlers are buried. You will learn the histories of some of these people and how to trace your own genealogy. You will learn specialist skills in archaeological restoration and preservation of monuments that are nearly 200years old, under the supervision of a Secretary of the Interior qualified Archaeologist, Dr Jan Sigvartsen PhD. Long Lake Cemetery is three miles from Downtown Berrien Springs towards Niles on Old US 31.
As you restore the cemetery, you will also learn about the early history of Berrien County and its fascinating early settlers and the lives they lived. Students will learn how to research their own home’s history, how to research their own ancestors, and early settler life in Berrien Springs in the early 1800s. This project will also teach students how to obtain VA headstones or plaques for veterans, particularly War of 1812 and Civil War veterans, who are buried in the Long Lake Cemetery. External funding is presently being sought to ensure the children buried in the children’s section have the dignity of a headstone.
One of our research questions will be, is this historic cemetery the oldest cemetery in Berrien County? Are the people buried there in the early years all related to each other, and was this originally a family cemetery? Or, was this a convenient community cemetery close to the prehistoric Native American Trail (which is now Old US 31) and Long Lake, where the first permanent European settlers of Berrien County originally settled?
A parent, grandparent, or guardian is welcome to accompany you. Friends or siblings must be registered for this class with the parent partnership to participate. This program is for two and a half hours per week for eight weeks.
*Please note: it is important to make as informed a decision as possible when choosing your student's Community Resource classes. Most locations will allow a student to drop a class after one meeting, at no charge if it wasn't a good fit for the student, but not all. Some classes plan ahead based on the number that have signed up and have purchased materials, hired teachers, etc. and there might be a fee for class time or materials given to the student if the student drops after one or two meetings. The school cannot pay for classes that students do not complete, so choose wisely; if you do not take the class off of your student's schedule by the deadline, you may be asked to pay for the class time incurred prior to dropping the class.
Teacher of Record: Michael Gathright
