Students get history lesson
By Jill Gosche, jgosche@advertiser-tribune.comArticle Photos
Several Calvert High School students got a jump-start on social studies lessons thanks to their participation in Congressional Academy Ohio. Now, they're preparing a project that may have them studying the history of local Catholic churches.
Four students -- Joe Brodman, Nathan Somers, Ryan Somers and Alec Traxler -- participated in the July institute. Fellow student Nathan Mathias also was selected but was unable to participate.
Dan Traxler, a tutor at the St. Joseph campus of Calvert Catholic Schools and Alec's father, said teachers and students write essays as part of the selection process, and representatives from 14 schools participated in this year's academy.
"It's to get students more involved in history and civics," he said about the program. "I just think it was a great experience for the group to ... spend time on a college campus and to have classes with actual professors."
According to the program's Web site, "Congressional Academy Ohio works to inspire better teaching and active learning of the key events, documents, people, and ideas that shaped the development of Ohio and the democratic heritage of the United States."
Traxler said the students stayed at Ohio University. Nathan Somers said he wants to go to college someday and enjoyed being in a college atmosphere.
Students went on site for most of the lessons, while other instructors came to the students. Some of the sites they visited were Marietta College, the Ohio Statehouse and the state's Supreme Court.
"It was a full week," Traxler said.
Traxler said students plotted artifacts on the ground and learned about conducting interviews. One speaker, he said, talked about what Internet sources students can trust and those they cannot, and it is an important lesson for students to learn.
"They're a little too trusting of the information they have," he said.
Traxler said many lectures focused on Ohio's role as a democratic experiment. The state looked to other types of government but was unique in how it was set up, he said.
"It was the first state of its kind as far as the way it was set up," he said. "The governor originally had no power at all, and that was intentional ... not to slam (Ohio's first governor) Edward Tiffin."
Alec Traxler said he didn't know the entire story of how Ohio was founded, and the seminar allowed him to learn about the process. He said he enjoyed being able to learn what going to college likely will be like, and the seminar was about what he expected.
"I knew that we'd probably have long lectures and that stuff, but I was kind of surprised by how much we did that was actually out of the classroom," he said.
The students said they will take history classes next semester. Brodman said the seminar will help him understand how government operates, and he learned about state government from the program.
"You'll just understand the government better," he said. "I'll already know some of what we'll be learning."
Traxler said the group must organize a project, and members are considering researching the history of Tiffin's two Catholic churches. They are looking to produce a 30- to 40-minute documentary that would be published on the program's Web site, he said.
"Anybody can view it," he said.
On the Web:
Calvert Catholic Schools:
www.calvertcatholicschools.org
Congressional Academy Ohio:
www.congressionalacademyohio.com
