On March 25, 2024, the students in American Studies went on a field trip to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas.
American Studies is a Gifted and Talented class for juniors that combines the curriculum of AP Language Arts and AP United States History. On the field trip, students explored the life, presidency, and legacy of John F. Kennedy, although the focus of the museum was his assassination and the related conspiracies.
The museum is named for its sixth floor, where a sniper’s perch and rifle were found after the assassination of JFK. Today, the sixth floor is filled with information and relics of Kennedy’s presidency and death. The street outside the museum is marked with X’s to show where the fatal shot occurred.
“My favorite part of the JFK trip was getting to see the real-life locations. We also got to see the artifacts they had and all the information they had on the walls. We learned way more about it than we could in just a classroom,” junior Raj Deka said.
In their American Studies class, students are currently learning about Kennedy’s presidency with the greater Cold War.
“I think that JFK should get a lot of credit for helping America not go into a nuclear war. Even though he had his fault with the Bay of Pigs, I feel like he deserves credit for negotiating with the Soviet Union so that we didn’t go into nuclear war,” Ms. Jesko said.
Although he was a great president, JFK certainly had many enemies, and students enjoyed diving deeper into the various conspiracy theories surrounding his assassination and creating their own ideas about who may have been involved.
“My favorite conspiracy theory is the Umbrella Man. I think the leaked CIA technology makes this theory possible, and there is a lot of evidence of there being a second shooter,” junior Lucy McDowell said.
The field trip was an interesting way to learn more about United States history and experience it on a more personal level, by being where one of the most famous American presidents was assassinated, changing the course of history.
“I think getting out into the community is important, and I don’t think we get to do that enough. Since this was a big historical event that happened locally, I feel like, as a history teacher, I almost have to take students there,” Jesko said.