Schools

Community Briefs: Mill Creek Students Get Hands-On Lesson on U.S. Civil War

Students will visit Forest Lawn Cemetery in Dexter to explore the community's connection to the Civil War.

History will come alive for 115 eigth grade students at on Thursday. The students, along with teachers Jill Jastren, Lisa Burgess, Julianne Snider and Becky Gutkowski, will tour Dexter's historic Forest Lawn Cemetery to explore the village's connection to the U.S. Civil War.

Three Dexter community members will reenact the characters of Samuel and Millicent Dexter, founders of Dexter, and Col. Harrison Jeffords, a hero at the Battle of Gettysburg. Students will also participate in a cemetery scavenger hunt to learn more about the history of Dexter.

"By studying the ages, names, symbols and epitaphs in a cemetery, students can learn about their community’s ethnic, cultural, religious and historical background," resident Mark Olexa, who portrays the role of Samuel Dexter, said. "Forest Lawn Cemetery is an old cemetery of historic and educational value that comes alive when students realize that the people buried there actually lived and helped make their community what it is today."

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Along with Olexa, the role of Millicent Dexter will be portrayed by Stephanie Bell and Col. Jeffords will be portrayed by Civil War historian Larry Burgess.

In April, the eighth grade class will take a five-day trip to Washington, D.C. and visit Gettysburg National Military Park. The park erected a monument to the 4th Michigan Infantry in a wheat field in honor of Jeffords, who died on July 2, 1863.

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"When students have the opportunity to visit and understand the importance of cemeteries, they are more likely to become adults who will participate in the responsible conservation of cemeteries in their communities," Olexa said.


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