On November 6, 90 Del Mar High School students and nine chaperones took a field trip to the SHN Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco to participate in the Gilder Lehrman Institutes’ Hamilton Education Program, which is a unique, hands-on project that introduces students to the people, events and documents of the founding fathers' era.
The students also learn how Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of Hamilton, incorporated primary sources into the songs he wrote for the show and use that knowledge to produce their own performance pieces. Finally, the students enjoy a special matinee of the highly acclaimed musical and Q & A with several members of the cast.
“Students analyzed primary source documents, explored Hamilton song lyrics, researched a founding era person, event, or document of their choice, and ultimately wrote their own artistic piece. I was completely blown away by the creativity and talent of our students. They became singers, poets, musicians, actors and activists right before my eyes,” said Del Mar High School Social Science teacher Kira Durant.
According to the Hamilton website, the Gilder Lehrman Institute is an innovative program integrating history and performing arts to allow teachers to bring American history to the classroom in a new way to help students find their own connections to the founding era.
To learn more about the Gilder Lehrman Institutes’ Hamilton Education Program, click here.