Stewart School’s final history to be told by one of its last students

The beginnings and the ends of Stewart Elementary School are coming together for Teddy Heberling’s project about the nearly century-old Lower Burrell institution.

“I knew it was old, but I didn’t know it was 90 years old,” said Teddy, 10 and a fifth grader at Stewart. “It’s cool to me that I’m the last class at Stewart School.”

Teddy is creating a history presentation — which will include a timeline of the school and a map of previous schools in the area — for a commemorative Celebration of Stewart event from 6 to 8 p.m. June 11 at the school.

Stewart, which currently serves fourth and fifth grade students in the Burrell School District, will close at the end of this school year due to declining enrollment and costly infrastructure upgrades.

Teddy originally was working with gifted coordinator April Sites for a project on World War II. But he shifted gears to local history because he felt more motivated by looking into the history-rich educational building.

And the school is embedded in family history. Teddy’s grandmother, aunts and uncle went to Stewart, as well as his mother, Allison Heberling. Allison was also the art teacher at Stewart for eight years before moving to Burrell’s Charles A. Huston Middle School.

“I feel connected with the community,” Teddy said.

Teddy has conducted interviews with current and former students and worked with Sites to learn more about the history of the school.

But the key to Teddy’s research came from Lower Burrell historian Ray Rieser. Teddy said he and his father connected with Rieser after reading one of his TribLive “Remember When” columns about Stewart’s history.

“We saw he had so much interesting information and contacted him,” Teddy said. “He gave me most of the information I have now.”

Rieser’s mother, Theta Stitt, was in the first class at Stewart as a fourth grader when it opened for classes in 1932.

When Stewart was built, it replaced four one-room schools at the time: Yetter, Bon Air, Gladeview and Morrows, Rieser said.

Rieser still has photographs from those days and his mother’s report cards. He also kept Stitt’s written accounts of school life, when she wrote “The One-Room Schools of Lower Burrell Township,” a history article in the City of Lower Burrell 40th Anniversary Book.

“I really liked the photos of the old teachers,” Teddy said. “It’s cool to me.”

Not only is Teddy getting a firsthand, expert local history lesson, he’s also learning real-world skills including communication, time management and writing a professional email, Sites said.

“There’s so many hidden skills within the project that, even as a teacher, I didn’t realize were embedded in it,” she said. “The whole thing is about building a lifelong learner.”

Said Principal Autumn Turk: “It’s something to be proud of.”

While there’s been history written about the city of Lower Burrell, there’s not much about Stewart school, Rieser said.

In addition, erroneous information has circulated about the school. Rieser said false rumors have included that the land would revert back to the Stewart family if the property ceased use as a school or that the city would obtain the property for free.

“(Teddy’s) work will be very important and will be kept forever,” he said.

Teddy said he hopes future generations can appreciate local history like he does.

“I really like history and facts, and my favorite part is learning about the facts,” he said. “Facts are cool to me, because I really like history.”

Teddy’s father, Mason Heberling, is proud of Teddy’s work documenting the end of an era.

“I’m excited that Teddy’s project, along with Ray Rieser’s help and research, sheds light on (the) broader picture of continual change in a community through time,” Heberling said. “It is remarkable how much a school has on a child’s and community’s identity.”

The young historian’s work and motivation on the project is inspiring to Rieser, 81.

“A lot of people talk about history and want to do it to tell their friends a story at a party, but to actually do the research, it’s something altogether different,” Rieser said. “You go through all sorts of rabbit holes, and find other stories you weren’t expecting.

“That’s history.”