A Trip West Stokes History Teacher's Curiosity About the World Around

This summer, history teacher Mark Ginn traveled to western North America as part of Tatnall's Faculty Grant Program and shared reflections on a trip that stoked his curiosity about the world around him. Following his trip, Mr. Ginn returned to Tatnall with an important message for his students. 

In Mark's words:

The intent of the trip was to (re-)explore sections of western North America with some emphasis on historical connections but also a broader view of experiencing the landscape, the elements, and the people in order to both feed and stoke curiosity about the world around. With this as the goal, the travels, in my view, were a resounding success. We visited the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in Montana, straddled the border of Alberta and British Columbia, and stood on the Continental Divide. We hiked numerous miles of trails in the Rockies of both Canada and the United States, encountering both snowfall and temperatures in the 80s–on the same day. We watched a female moose swim across Two Medicine Lake in East Glacier, MT, to tend to her calf on one side of the lake after leaving her scent on the other side to throw bears off her trail. Along with what felt like thousands of fellow travelers, we witnessed the spectacle of Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. At all points, we had the required bear spray close at hand.

Other favorite experiences were more subtle: Recounting the days’ adventures over food and drink with the family. Hiking local trails, far away from the crowds. A solo bike ride with a ten-mile dirt road climb (not knowing exactly where I was going or how to get back). Meeting the energetic three-legged pup Rambo and his much more sedate and sightless canine buddy in the parking lot of a convenience store in an economically-depressed reservation town in western Montana.

The list of encounters and memories is endless–as is the collection of digital photographs that recorded each day. The landscapes traversed reinforced in my mind the geographic immensity, beauty, and diversity of the US and North America; the people encountered reminded me of the diversity, beauty, and tragedy of our demographic composition and experiences. Perfectly imperfect, the present and future of the United States are worth struggling for–that is the message I hope to bring back East and incorporate into my work with the students of Tatnall. Someday they too will head west (or any direction) in search of their own experiences and understandings.