Fourth-Grader Brayden Stutzman, 9, tries his hand at tomahawk tossing.

WARSAW — Fourth-grade students from throughout Warsaw Community Schools were engaged in a history-infused sensory explosion Friday, Sept. 7, as the youngsters converged on Harrison Elementary School to experience the third installment of WCS’s Back To The Days event.

During the day-long history lesson, students from elementary schools throughout the district rotated between 12 stations that featured a wide variety of presenters from Abe Lincoln impersonator Danny Russel to Steve Smith, who fired a replica Civil War cannon with the help of Grace College history student Nathan Comfort.

WCS school board member and former Harrison Elementary School principal Randy Polston said the event was planned several years ago and touted the efforts of Chief Academic Officer David Robertson to help bring the event to life.

“One of my loves and passions was always history, when I was a teacher as well as the principal out here at Harrison,” Polston said. “I worked with the community to bring the Hoosier Heritage School in, the old log school, and it was a few years ago, David Robertson and I started talking because Back to the Days used to be held down at the fairgrounds and it went away.”

The county celebration Back to the Days of Kosciuzko was an annual event at the county fairgrounds that featured old-world displays and re-enactors. “We were still talking about how special this day is for our fourth-grade students who study Indiana history and what it would take for us to bring this back and light a candle under this event and get it going once again.”

Polston said the 40 acres at Harrison Elementary School, which features the vintage schoolhouse called Hoosier Heritage School, made for a perfect backdrop.

“We’re very excited about what we’ve been able to bring back to the kids here,” Polston said. “An event like this gives these kids the opportunity to have history come alive for them.”

The planning, which is a monumental undertaking that involves numerous staff members and faculty from throughout the school district, requires up to a year’s work. Polston said some presenters are very busy and require advanced notice to get booked for the Warsaw event.

“The feedback we’ve gotten from the kids has been phenomenal,” said Polston. “Well, you can hear them over there and the fun that they’re having. And the teachers are so appreciative that we’ve been able to bring this back again.”

Polston said that youth need more and more stimulation to foster an appreciation for history, given the distractions they receive via modern technology.

“With each passing year, interests are always heading in another direction,” Polston said. “That’s why it’s so important that we have days like this to show these kids the history of the area where they’re growing up. That’s why we can never allow the past to become something the kids never know anything about. You build on your future by experiencing the past.”

Re-enacter Steve Smith stands behind a replica Civil War cannon.

The firing of Steve Smith’s cannon helped the students know when to switch stations.

Students received a lesson on history from an Abe Lincoln impersonator.

Danny Russel taught history to the students while posing as Abe Lincoln.

Students toured the Hoosier Heritage School and received a feel of what learning was like more than a century ago.