On April 17, Grade 4 students on the Bolles Lower School Whitehurst Campus hosted the Pioneer Florida Experience – an immersive event that invited attendees to step into the past and learn about what life was like for Floridian settlers.

Led by their teachers Dr. Jaime Swartz and Michelle McCall, the students dressed in period costumes and facilitated activities ranging from churning butter and candle making to sawing logs and writing their names with quills and pens. In addition to teaching students about Florida history, the project honed their skills in research and public speaking.

The entire Whitehurst Campus participated in two Pioneer Florida Experience sessions held by the Grade 4 students throughout the morning, and the fourth graders’ classmates from the Bolles Lower School Ponte Vedra Beach Campus joined in on the fun, too! At the end of each session, a live band invited all the students to join a spirited hoedown, where the Bulldogs encouraged each other and laughed along the way as they learned how to do-si-do and sashay!

For more photos from the Pioneer Florida Experience, visit our online photo gallery.