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October 6, 2009
Ben Edwards
Traditionally, history class is taught with a hefty textbook and a blackboard scribble of irrelevant dates. This montage of past events can easily turn a person away from history. One man, though, stands to defy this trend of keeping history in the past by bringing it to Hoban’s backyard.
Every year, history teacher Jason Anderson takes his U.S. world history class on a field trip to the past by recreating the camp of an American Revolution general on school grounds.
“When you take students out of the classroom they tend to pay more attention,” junior Stephanie Nelson said.
Dressed in a full general’s attire, wig and sword included, Anderson took his class to the camp for lessons on Revolutionary life.
“The American Revolution is such an important part of American history that is too often overlooked,” Anderson said.
As classes left Hoban’s back door, instead of entering the musty Akron air, the distinctive smell of a campfire seemed to be out of place, along with the sight of a white canvas tent pitched next to the towering school building.
The tent was then opened up to reveal a cornucopia of revolutionary war equipment. The small wooden table in the center of the tent was the first item to catch student’s attention, which on top laid a map of the colonies, a compass, several old war orders, and what Mr. Anderson described as the world’s earliest version of a mechanical pencil.
A dark brown wooden chest, called a document case, was used to stow maps and war orders a general would need to run their army on a daily basis. These canvas tents served as a general’s living room, office, bathroom, bedroom, dining room, kitchen, and meeting room. Living here for eight years would be no easy task.
After the tent tour, students were encouraged to sip the coffee, cook and serve revolutionary style. The tin roasted black coffee was served into a large tin cup and passed around, to the brewer’s dismay; the participant’s faces showed the taste.
“Blackest coffee I’ve ever had. It was very strong and bitter, definitely not something you would get from Starbucks today,” junior Grace Foote said.
After the coffee, it was time to drill. Anderson had students gather in ranks with the color guard in front. He then marched his class up and down the parking lot.
“I really don’t think any of us can imagine war now, let alone back then,” Nelson said.
For many students, this was a once in a lifetime experience and for a brief period of time they lived as their forefathers did.
“By looking at what these men went through and how they lived we can better appreciate what we have today,” Anderson said.
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