At this week's Round Table, Inica, Jack, Kenisha, and Madeline sat down with leaders of the National History Academy. President and co-founder Willam (Bill) Sellers noted that there are many STEM programs, business programs, and law programs over the summer, but not history programs. That’s what inspired him to start the National History Academy: to give a voice to history and create academic opportunities for students to discuss our country’s history. Guest Katie Smolar, a former teacher who is currently the director of educational programs for the National History Academy, underscored the need for entities like National History Academy to help students expand their historical and civic knowledge, since many textbooks have been outdated since SHE was in high school. Additional guests Ben Kellerhals & Dominique Castanheira, two past National History Academy scholars, shared how their love of history was nurtured by the National History Academy--and how they discovered the community they’d been looking for-- and are now pursuing college coursework in history. From case studies to field trips to debates, we discussed the challenges facing America. Throughout the episode, we discussed how we must rethink the way we teach history and civics and encourage thought, discussion, critical analysis, and interaction with others. History isn’t just learning names and dates, it’s also about putting yourself in historical situations and taking the diverse knowledge you learn from all kinds of different people to bring it back to your communities. Thank you for listening!
