It’s different from other projects because I actually got to interact with someone and get information from something other than a history book.

“During a vascular conference a patient with an extensive medical history was being discussed. The surgeons were going over multiple surgical possibilities for the patient. I spoke up and suggested pallative care. They admitted it wasn’t a bad idea. Nothing they were discussing was going to provide any long term benefit. I am not sure I would have thought of pallitive care, let alone, speak up to a group of surgeons without having been in Literature in Medicine.”

“[My son] became a real expert in his topic and, he says, developed a life-long love of history, especially the history of music. I cannot thank you enough for this rare and incredible opportunity.”

“[The students] learned a variety of ways to present their material and they could focus on what they wanted to learn about. The students had a choice in their learning. It was about their learning NOT what someone else felt they need to learn.”

“[After Literature & Medicine,] I have more respect for other health care staff.”

“This contest gives [students] a chance to practice [letter writing] while also expressing themselves about a work of literature or a particular author that has made an impact on them personally. As a teacher, I benefit from reading the letters because I always learn new things about each student.”

“I feel more connected to history.”

“I distributed copies of the book and we engaged in an afterschool discussion which included students and staff. Everyone who participated was so engaged that our 45 minute planned discussion ended up stretching into an hour and a half!”

“Without support from Maryland Humanities, we never could have put together an exhibit and programming at this scale. This support allowed us to cover many more writers, artists and musicians in the exhibit than we otherwise could have done. It enabled us to offer at lease 50 percent more programming than we could have done on our own. The funds also enabled us to promote the exhibit and programs to a wider market. Furthermore, knowing there was a chance for this grant to be awarded, we felt able to apply for (even more) support from the local cultural arts board… We are enormously grateful.”

We were enabled to go into the community and get information from real people. Also, the assignment was pretty subjective so we were able to take it in any way we liked. We led the projects and each one is so different from the next.