Great Lessons from ‘The Great War’
Anyone who has visited either of the national museums commemorating the two world wars knows that they do a great job of bringing to life the sights, sounds, and sorrow of these conflicts—as well as the untold acts of courage and compassion that shone forth in those terrible times.
In February, 58 sophomores and juniors and about a dozen faculty and staff had the opportunity to discover and uncover historical detail about World War I through “The Great War: Art, Fact, Artifact”—a four-day immersion trip centered on the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. This is the second such interdisciplinary trip led by Upper School faculty for history and English honors students.
Starting out early on a Thursday morning to catch the train from St. Louis to Kansas City, students were “mustered” together in small “fire teams” as their “commanding officers” (teachers) talked them through the numerous academic assignments (or “missions”) to be completed over the weekend. The students were tasked with researching and exploring complex ideas and themes, and communicating their findings and reflections.
The Principia group “was extremely well prepared and able to delve into the museum, really taking advantage of learning possibilities,” remarked Cherie Kelly, the museum’s learning coordinator. “The museum annually hosts approximately 16,500 students, [and] Principia classes are amongst the finest with which we have the pleasure to work.”
But our students went well beyond just studying war through the academic lenses of history, politics, economics, and literature. Drawing on ideas from the weekly Bible Lesson as well as group discussions with each other and adult leaders, upper schoolers dug deep to find personal and spiritual lessons about war and conflict and how they can be prevented or allayed.
“Certainly, what our students saw on this trip were the images and sounds of war, but it’s what they did with those images and sounds that matters,” says English teacher Patrick Cummins. Explaining that the root of the word war comes from the Old High German werran, which means “to bring into confusion,” Cummins adds that the students’ work demonstrated that they were “getting past the images, past the impressions—past the symptoms—to the root of war.”
One of the most “meaningful pieces” of the experience, says history teacher Keith Preston, was the three-minute mise en espace that each fire team had to prepare—a short performance dealing with the events, issues, or ideas experienced on the trip. Remarking on the “happy, chirpy, buzzing group of students . . . excitedly developing the written scripts for their scenes,” Preston observed that “our soldiers have served marvelously . . . and have earned the gratitude and respect of their commanding officers!”
Academic advisor (and trip chaperone) Christen Alford asked some of the students how they might have used Christian Science during the war and what they found that was helpful in that week’s Bible Lesson.
“I love the ideas from the first section about direction—‘When we wait patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs our path’” (Science and Health, p. 254), responded one student. “To me this would have been helpful during the war because soldiers often felt directionless, but God is always in control.” Alford reported that other students thought it was “cool” that the week’s lesson included the following statement from page 467 in Science and Health: “Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood of man will be established.”
Many of the students also expressed gratitude for the opportunity to go on this trip. “I’m grateful to have the chance to learn in such a fun way outside of the classroom,” one wrote. “Every assignment, project, and activity is so genuine and shows how passionate the teachers are about what they are teaching,” wrote another.
Note: This article has been compiled from student, faculty, and staff contributions to the trip blog.