West Point Trip Offers Revolutionary Insight for Sixth Grade

11/15/2019

A mere 45 minutes north of Dobbs Ferry sits the historic United States Military Academy at West Point, one of the five United States service academies.

And on Wednesday, November 13, the sixth grade headed up the river to spend the day at the famed institution as part of their study of the Hudson River.

The United States Military Academy was established in 1802 at the direction of President Thomas Jefferson, but the fortress at West Point has a history that dates back to the Revolutionary War and remains the oldest continuously occupied military post in America.

The Class of 2026 embarked on West Point’s Revolutionary War Tour, during which students played the roles of leaders such as George Washington, Molly Corbin, Benedict Arnold, among others. Meant to inform and facilitate discussion, the tour explained the broader role of West Point in the history of the United States. Students also learned about how the academy selects its cadets and what the cadet experience is like.

“The ideal of selflessness was the real takeaway from Wednesday’s trip to West Point,” said middle school humanities teacher Mark Tamucci. Additionally, he explained, “Students discovered how West Point has shaped the history and character of our country from the American Revolution to the present day.”

The trip was part of the sixth grade’s yearlong study of the Hudson River, an experiential learning curriculum where students seine in the river, observe it from West Point, and canoe at Constitution Marsh, a 270-acre fresh-water and brackish tidal marsh located between Constitution Island and the eastern shores of the Hudson River in Garrison, New York.