Middle school students re-enact Civil War

MEDINA, Tenn. — Students take their history class outside for a lesson on the battlefield.

“History has to come alive to these kids, and this brings it alive to them,”  said Deborah Allen, fifth grade science and social studies teacher at Medina Middle School. “You cannot teach history from a book. They have to experience it and understand it, and this makes it more real to them.”

More than 200 Medina Middle School students re-enacted the Civil War Monday.

“It is the culmination of studying the Civil War from the very beginning of the year to the very end, and they wait all year for this. This is, like, the event of the year,” Allen said.

Students who participated in the battle say it helped them learn about the war.

“It was not an easy job,” said Aiden Cox, a fifth grade student. “Not everybody could do it. It was a very hard job, and you had to be well fit to be able to do that.”

Students played different roles.

“I was a general for the south and also flag bearer for the south,” Cox said.

The north won in the students’ re-enactment.