PERRY, Utah — Students at a Box Elder County school are getting an up-close look at Utah’s ancient history.
The Promontory School of Expeditionary Learning recently took students on an overnight field trip to Sevier County, where they saw petroglyphs and artifacts of the Fremont people. “I thought the petroglyphs and the hieroglyphs were really cool because we got to see how they painted and what their story was,” said 6th-grade student Alice Nielsen.
“Most of them were hunting, with the bighorn sheep, and the men with spears,” added 6th grader Sydnee Keller.
Administrators at the school believe this type of learning has a bigger impact than reading stories from a history textbook. “Instead of just memorizing things in a textbook, we are taking our students to the locations, talking to experts, giving them those hands-on experiences,” said Amber Edelman, the director of the school.
Teacher Glenna Petersen believes that being outside the classroom opens more doors for the students to gain more knowledge. “They're natural learners, and being outside, they have so many more senses that come to life,” she said.
In addition to their overnight camping trip, the school also welcomes guest speakers to share a variety of perspectives.
One such speaker is Darren Parry, the former chairman of the Shoshone Nation. “I show the students artifacts and how they used all parts of the animal to live, because when they looked out at their environment, it was their grocery store and their pharmacy,” he said.
The importance of the lessons isn’t lost on the students. “I think it's very important to study the history because then we know what their life was like, and if they made any mistakes, we could learn from their mistakes,” said 6th-grade student Jacob Riding.
These young minds are now thinking critically about the history of their home state. “I think it's very important to learn about the past of what they had and what they did, so we can learn to improve what they did in the future,” 6th grader Kenley Wolff said.
To learn more about the Promontory School of Expeditionary Learning, click here.
