Students take trip back to the '60s

Students take trip back to the '60s

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/apr/03/pa-students-take-trip-back-to-the-60s/

By MEGAN HUSSEY
April 3, 2010

WESLEY CHAPEL - Wiregrass Ranch High School experienced a 1960s
flashback Thursday, as students dressed in tie-dye shirts, carried
protest signs and listened to The Beatles, while learning important
lessons about a monumental era in world history.

Students were studying the Woodstock Festival, which took place from
Aug.15 to 18 in 1969 in Bethel, N.Y.

"Beyond Woodstock, we're giving students a good idea of the cultural,
political and entertainment events of that time," said Angela
Jeschke, Wiregrass photography teacher.

The Wiregrass Ranch High School art community organized '60s Day at
the school, which featured a multitude of events and activities. On
school grounds, protestors held up signs and chanted, "What do we
want? Peace! When do we want it? Now!"

Other students strummed guitars and sang '60s songs. Some pupils
posed for photos in front of tie-dyed screens, while other recited
speeches of that era (such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I
Have a Dream") and read student-made posters with trivia about '60s
music, politics and social movements, as well as about the Vietnam
War, the space program, and other significant happenings during that time.

In the school, students in the study lounge read by the light of lava
lamps as they listened to songs such as "Yellow Submarine." In music
and drama classes, they sang selections from classic musicals such as
"Hair" and "Jesus Christ Superstar."

"We wanted this activity to be all-inclusive," said Christy Rankin,
Wiregrass Ranch math teacher. "In history, students studied about
protests, sit-ins, JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. In math and
science, they studied about DNA research and the space program. In
English, they studied the books and poetry of that time. In music and
drama, they studied musicals like 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and
'Hair.' In media, they did a slideshow and art work related to this time."

Students also set up tie-dying and photography booths on school
grounds, as well as informational booths that covered different
aspects of '60s culture.

"I learned about all the different cartoons of the time," said Cole
Mowrey, an 11th-grader who ran a pop culture booth at the event. "I
never thought that Big Bird was around before 1990. And I learned
about different books of the decade."

"Studying this decade made me want to read 'To Kill a Mockingbird,'"
agreed Ashley Robinson, ninth grade, who ran the pop culture booth with Mowrey.

Students also learned about the issues that shaped that era,
including the women's and civil rights movements and the anti-war movement.

"The most important issue to me was the war," said Robinson. "In the
'60s, they wanted peace, not war. And we still don't have it now."

Senior Amy Osiason agrees.

"I like what the people wore in the '60s, and they had better music,"
she said. "The general mood of the people in this country was that
everybody was for peace."

Students also learned about fun aspects of the decade such as popular
television shows and fashion.

"I learned about what people wore and how they acted," said Darynn
Vannasse, ninth grader. "They liked brights. ... It was more the Mod style."

Indeed, many students felt that celebration and academics went hand
in hand on '60s day.

"We learned a lot of history and had a lot of fun," said senior
Austin Bartleson.

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