The Gardiner-Shenker Student Scholars Program encourages students not only to learn about history of their communities, but also to see themselves as a part of the history of New York City. The program provides close mentorship between students, professors, and staff while introducing students to primary research methods using different collections from the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives. (Past projects have focused on the LGBTQ Collection, the NYCHA papers, Mayor Ed Koch’s papers, the Queens Local History collection, and the papers of Edith Evans Asbury, a pioneering journalist for the New York Times.) The Archives’ team then facilitates the students’ creation of exhibits, oral history collections, book and article publications, podcasts, and websites inspired by their archival research and their contemporary documentation of the city. Each year, the students discover personal connections with the city’s history, gain confidence in their academic abilities, present their work to large audiences, and contribute their voices to the historical record by donating the materials they generate to the Archives.