American Battlefield Trust
Bowe and Stewart are long-time supporters of the American Battlefield Trust, providing both financial and strategic support. The American Battlefield Trust protects, preserves and interprets American battlefields, providing educators and the public with educational information about the vital roles battlefields and conflicts have played in determining the course of our nation’s history.
Through a multi-year contribution by the Bowe Stewart Foundation, two impactful programs at the American Battlefield Trust will be expanded between 2020 and 2025. The Great Task Youth Leadership Program offers intensive leadership and character-building experiences that go beyond traditional curriculum-based field trips. The National Teacher Institute has been the standard for professional educator development in the history field for the last twenty years.
great task youth leadership program
History can do more than instruct; it can also inspire. The “Great Task” Youth Leadership Program is for student, school, or youth groups in grade levels 7 to 12, looking for intensive leadership and character-building experiences. This award-winning program is a joint partnership between Gettysburg National Military Park and the American Battlefield Trust and is based upon the ideals set forth in President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion." While in Gettysburg, participants of the “Great Task” program learn about the leadership, integrity, endurance, and teamwork demonstrated by ordinary individuals confronted with the extraordinary challenges presented by the Battle of Gettysburg, whether they were soldiers, doctors, nurses, or civilians. Participating students then work to apply lessons of leadership and good character to identified community service projects in their own home communities.
In its inaugural season, the Bowe Stewart Foundation helped 62 students and their chaperones actively participate in sessions that included artillery drill, field hospital set up, signal flag activities, behind the scenes tours of battlefield buildings, and the creation of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. The students walked in the footsteps of numerous soldiers as well as Abraham Lincoln himself. They discussed leadership traits such as effective communication, resilience, integrity, strategy and organization, and teamwork, and they applied those leadership skills and lessons to problems and solutions in their own schools and communities. Additional experiences included visits to the National Riding Stables and their rescue horses, as well as experiences at Gettysburg College that included tours and mini-lectures designed to help the students see themselves within a college environment and to begin to strategize for their own personal “great tasks.’
who is it for?
Students in grades 7 through 12, in groups of 15 to 30 motivated under-served youth, ready to make a difference and ready for an intensive hybrid/in-person field trip experience, and who have or want to build leadership, character and community service goals.
what does it provide?
Tailored pre-trip discussion circles, virtual sessions, films, challenge videos, and field activities like battlefield service projects, an opportunity to work with horses, and college classroom experience. Itineraries are unique and are planned alongside group leaders, tailored to the organization’s mission and objectives. Travel, hands-on learning activities with historians and education experts, and a selection of history and character education books for post-visit activities come together to provide a foundation for leadership, a sense of community involvement and pride, and for one deserving group per year, the “Great Task” student leadership award.
NATIONAL virtual TEACHER INSTITUTE 2023
American Battlefield Trust’s annual National Teacher Institute has been the standard for professional educator development in the history field for the last twenty years. Through lectures, interactive workshops, and on-site tours, the National Teacher Institute has changed the lives of 3,000 teachers and their students. American Battlefield Trust professional development events help teachers enrich their Civil War instruction and earn a continuing education certificate.
The Bowe Stewart Foundation is supporting travel scholarships for teachers to attend the 2023 National Teacher Institute in Baltimore, MD, in July 2023 with the theme, "What's Past is Prologue: Making History Relatable in Today's Classrooms." Over the course of the event, American Battlefield Trust will engage with more than 200 K-12 educators from around the country. The Trust will provide lectures, workshops, think tanks, tours, and classroom-ready materials to the educators free of charge and expects to offer some 40 travel scholarships to educators. Teachers can expect to tour Baltimore area sites such as Fort McHenry, Hampton, the Maryland Center for History and Culture, as well as Gettysburg. At Gettysburg, teachers will take part in a condensed Bowe Stewart Foundation-supported Great Task program through which they can inspire their students.
Who comes to the American Battlefield Trust Teacher Institute?
50% first time attendees
45% Title 1 teachers
65% of attendees are public school teachers
18% of attendees are private or parochial school teachers
36% middle school teachers
31% high school teachers
How ARE teachers IMPACTED BY THE American Battlefield Trust Teacher Institute?
80% use of teachers use or come to use Trust resources in their classrooms
Teachers rate the events an average rating of 4.8 out of 5
100% of attendees would recommend the event to a friend or colleague