"We can draw lessons from our past, but we cannot live in it."  Lyndon B. Johnson

 The American Experience

The Summit’s focus on history this year will be the United States of America, and we’re expecting great things as we take our Middle School students through the past in preparing them as leaders for the future.

Fridays have been designated Explorers’ history day.  This has allowed staff to prepare a team teaching-approach, at a high school AP-level, that better integrates topics and develops critical thinking skills for how events interrelate.  We will also have the liberty for exploring significant contributions made right here within the 4-State area through field trips and additional hands-on learning opportunities.

Our school-wide curriculum is designed to follow a scope and sequence.  Where 5th-grade leaves off with the Civil War, we begin with the reuniting of our nation.

The Reconstruction Period involves on-going legacies from key presidents and political decisions, including the Freedmen’s Bureau, Sharecropping, and the roots of Civil Rights and Equality.

While trying to rebuild the south, our identity was rapidly expanding west thanks to the Homestead Act.  Conflicts between pioneer settlers and Native Americans were only part of what helped extend our country from sea to shining sea.  Declarations of statehoods also determined land boundaries to our north while a precedent was set in battles over borders to our south as the Wild West was tamed.

Needs for communication birthed The Pony Express, which was simultaneously replaced by the telegraph.  Numerous essentials evolved during this time, including electricity and technology thanks to Great Inventors.

With industry and consumerism booming, Transportation Systems were developed to supply the entire homeland.  Railroads began to sprawl and the Monroe Doctrine was redefined to build the Panamá Canal and increase shipping.

These endeavors required additional manpower that benefited from a growing number of immigrants.  The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York harbor to welcome new colonists from Europe.  Mass-migration of Hispanics and Asians were also essential for helping shape America and enrich the Melting Pot Culture that distinguishes us today.

On-going developments during this period were rapid but not entirely thoughtless thanks to the creation of our National Parks System; a foundational benchmark as modern-day America strives to ‘Go Green’.

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Once these objectives have been completed for the First Trimester, we will coordinate the remainder of our year to cover stages of American history through the 20th century until today; one decade at a time.

"Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one."  Malcolm Forbes