Six weeks of summer. Students from all over the United States. History Camp Session Six officially wraps it up for this summer's National Parks Adventure. For the final session, we boarded the virtual bus for a field trip to Gateway Arch National Park right here in Missouri. The amazing thing about the Arch is that it represents more than just St. Louis and more than Missouri: in fact, the Arch is all about American history. Specifically, it represents Westward Expansion and "Manifest Destiny". It represents the encroachment on Native lands. Here are the Louisiana Purchase, the Corps of Discovery, the Oregon and California Trails, the Dred Scott Decision, and Civil Rights. Here are the wildlife, the landmarks, and the people. |
In these six weeks, we visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, Denali National Preserve, Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, Mammoth Cave National Park, George Washington Carver National Monument, and Gateway Arch National Park. We discussed impact, stewardship, resilience, courage, legacy, and vision.
I hope to have more opportunities to work with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in the future, whether with projects like this one, or as a teacher-leader in some other capacity. I love getting to help students while learning more about our history ourselves.