Imagine you're a soldier charging toward a cannon only moments after it was fired, desperately trying to reach and stop it before the next blast. Sixth-graders from Rockbridge Academy in Millersville got just a little taste of that on a recent field trip to Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.
After an early morning tour bus ride which featured doughnuts, juice and a talk on Civil War history, students stepped onto the battle site to the theme music from the Turner film "Gettsyburg." Their tour guide was Rockbridge's secondary school principal, Ralph Janikowsky.

Mr. Janikowsky, a retired naval officer, is no rookie when it comes to teaching about soldiers and battles; he is formerly a professor of military history and strategy at National Defense University in Washington D.C.

But the trip wasn’t all talk. Students were placed in columns of four and shown how the men would have marched into battle. They sampled hard tack prepared by one of the parents before setting out to follow the one-mile route of the infantry assault known as Pickett's Charge.

They ate a picnic lunch at Devil's Den, terrain littered with piles of rocks and boulders, which was the site of fierce fighting and sniper activity during the war. And they stopped at the cemetery to listen to a reading of the famous address delivered by President Abraham Lincoln several months after the Union victory at Gettysburg.

Teacher Christina Cawley noted a number of differences from last year's trip, including new peach trees and fencing, as the park attempts to replicate the way the site would have appeared in 1863.

Students weren't the only ones to benefit from Mr. Janikowsky's enthusiasm and knowledge; nearly 20 parents came along to participate in the day's activities.

Mr. Janikowsky believes that field trips such as the visit to Gettysburg are a great way to make the dates and names students learn in the classroom come alive. And, consistent with Rockbridge's method of classical education, it integrates many subjects including history, theology, literature, and government.

The field trip may be over, but students will no doubt be eager to charge ahead, learning about the next era in U.S. history.

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