A Warren County teacher was selected for a trip to Washington, D.C., to attend a summer teacher institute, one of only 24 educators nationwide selected. 

The program is called The Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Civil War Washington Summer Teacher Institute and it attempts to help educators better teach Civil War by using historic sites. 

Nicholas Knowles, a social studies teacher at Covenant Academy for the last four years, was one of 24 teachers nationwide selected to attend the program that ended Friday, July 12.

“I applied for the position through an application process and I was selected,” said Knowles. “I had to write essays, provide lesson plans, and go through a selection process. I truly loved the experience. We got to see Washington with some of the top experts in history and this is something very unique that I am looking forward to taking back to the classroom.”

The week-long program included visits to Ford’s Theatre, the site of Lincoln’s assassination, President Lincoln’s Cottage, the site where Lincoln developed the Emancipation Proclamation, Tudor Place Historic House and Garden, the home of a Southern sympathizer that highlights divisions within the D.C. community during the war, and a myriad of National Park Service sites including Fort Stevens, the site of the only Civil War battle in Washington, D.C., and Cedar Hill, Frederick Douglass’s historic home. 

The experience was worth the trip, said Knowles. 

“I cannot tell you in words the amount of knowledge and resources I have gained,” he said. “I was really excited about attending and getting to work with these experts and teachers has really been amazing. There is a family dynamic with the teachers in this program that I have never seen before and I am sure I will continue to learn from them and gain resources from them for years to come. I think the program and the experience has really helped me grow as a teacher and I was excited to attend but it has gone beyond my greatest imagination.”

Knowles added, “I love teaching. It has truly been my life calling. I am blessed that I get to keep the same students year after year so I have been blessed to get to watch them grow up. They have really became like my children.”

Schools and teachers interested in learning more about the Ford’s Theatre summer teacher institutes should visit www.fords.org/for-teachers/programs/ or email education@fords.org.