Many school projects, especially in high school, require students to teach the lesson for the class (students in Coach Chattin’s class are currently working on a project like the one just described). That causes panic in many, but what if you had a project that could possibly become part of the curriculum in the future? This is the concept that Heritage teacher Kevin Trobaugh has based the final (and only) project for his first group of students in the U.S. History through Film Class. The assignment is for students to pick a movie inspired by an event in U.S. History, or a film that is set during a specific time period (i.e. “Inglourious Basterds” or “Django Unchained”) and create the work to go along with it—as well as write a brief summary as to why Mr. Trobaugh should include that film in future semesters. The work students have to do include creating a viewing guide for students to follow along to while watching the movie and post movie questions for students to research afterwards such as people mentioned in the film, how the technology affected the events, or just the overall historical accuracy of the film. Films selected by students include “Hostiles,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “United 93,” and “Black Hawk Down.” The General Journal’s very own Ian Shank is doing “The Social Network,” a film centered around the creation of the social media site Facebook. Senior John Hooper, much like Ian Shank, chose another David Fincher film—the true crime-thriller “Zodiac” which revolves around the killings of the Zodiac and the journalists investigating the murders at the San Francisco Chronicle.

This project was one that fostered much excitement and enthusiasm for students and will be a unique way for them to find out the historical accuracy of some of their favorite films.