Courtney Weatherburne reporting
For archeologists, the thrill of a discovery is worth every grueling second spent excavating and examining. Then there is the process of uncovering the story behind the find. Now these precious discoveries are usually made at Maya sites, but today the excavation site was the playground at St. Martin De Porres School. The coordinators of the US Embassy's Archeology in the community program want the students to understand and appreciate this field of work and how it can help them define their identity.

Dr. Alexandra Jones - Executive Director, Archeology in the Community
"So today what we are doing is teaching the kids about archeology. What archeology is and why it's important to people in the world as well as Belize people and why kids should take an interest in archeology and cultural heritage and understanding how important their heritage is to who they are as young citizens."

But it wasn't just a lecture, these kids also got a chance to be junior archeologists as they unearthed and documented these fascinating artifacts.

Dr. Alexandra Jones - Executive Director, Archeology in the Community
"We are giving the kids an opportunity to practically act like archeologists so they can learn what we do and that when we talk about the fact that you have to go to school and that's it's a lot that is involved in this, they themselves are understanding it's not just digging but it is math, there is science and there is an art. If you would like to say to this as well. we are teaching how we as archeologists excavate and how we find out and understand what we do, but then we are bringing them outside and letting them go through the process and we are helping them and at the end we are asking them now look at all the objects you have, what does this mean? so they are looking at a spoon, a tile, a plate, they are looking at a bone and they are coming together and coming up with their own conclusions that if you put all these objects together, you would find this in the kitchen and so this in turn is somebody's kitchen. We are letting them go through the same process that we go through for interpretation and analysis so that they can come to the same conclusions that we come to."

And it might seem like just another fun day for these kids playing in sand and gravel but really it is an important lesson that these kids should learn and carry on.

Dr. Allan Moore - Institute of Archeology, NICH
"It goes back with the whole philosophy of preservation, caring for one's culture, ones heritage. We believe that from the onset of things, kids should learn to appreciate their culture and if we work with this generation that it'll be hopeful for next generation that we have people helping us in protecting and preserving and appreciating our culture and to have the culture in perpetuity for future generations."

Teyanna Pelayo - Standard 4
"We learned about that people go to the Maya ruin to break buildings and find stuff and move them and don't replace them."

Courtney Weatherburne, 7News
"So you think that maybe after this session, you would want to be an archeologist when you grow up?"

Teyanna Pelayo - Standard 4
"Yes ma'am."

Courtney Weatherburne, 7News
"What do you find interesting about it? Why is it fun for you?"

Teyanna Pelayo - Standard 4
"You learn a lot of things about it and when you go to the Maya ruin you can break things and dig and find things that the Belizean people make."

The coordinators will also conduct this training at schools in Benque, San Antonio, Toledo and Dangriga. Overall, 200 kids will participate in this program.