Mrs. Suzy Burket’s dual-enrollment US history class recently took a field trip to Bedford, Pennsylvania:  a small town rich in history.

The class pulled into the historic town the morning of October 23, 2014.

They began their day at a local coffee shop, HeBrews Coffee Company. The students had time to grab a warm drink for the cold walking tour ahead of them. The class then walked to the Bedford County Visitor’s Bureau, where they met their tour guide, Dennis Tice.

The students were amazed by the stories they were told by Tice.

“It was interesting to learn about local history in a very entertaining way,” said Kendra Walker, junior at TAHS.

On the tour the class learned the history of the old and the new Bedford County Courthouse and Fort Bedford.

Fort Bedford was built by the British to defend a road over the rough mountain terrain.

The students learned about James Smith, a white man captured by Indians and assimilated back into the white culture.  James Smith was in charge of The Black Boys, a group that temporarily overtook Fort Bedford from the British.

Learning about local history is important in the history class.

“It’s hard for kids to connect to history if they don’t see it as something that happened here,”said teacher Suzy Burket.

After their tour, the students headed to Bad Boyz Bistro for lunch before boarding the bus and returning to the school.

The dual enrollment history class is made up of college bound senior and junior students.  Upon completion of the class, the students can receive college credit from Mount Aloysius College in Loretto.  This is a relatively new program at TAHS that allows students to earn college credit while still in high school.