Fourth grade students from Meramec Elementary in St. Louis are learning about Lewis and Clark this month 鈥� and the Gateway Arch is a big part of their lessons.
In 2018, Gateway Arch National Park renovated its . The exhibits contain more information and are much more interactive than they used to be, said park ranger Pam Sanfillippo, chief of museum services and interpretation.
鈥淭he exhibits now tell multiple perspectives. They talk about others (in the Corps of Discovery) who went on the expedition with Lewis and Clark,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his renovation helps students see, rather than a kind of a narrow history, a much broader story of our nation's past.鈥�
On Friday, park ranger Chris Anibal led Patti Pyatt鈥檚 class on a short tour through the museum and 250 years of St. Louis history. Pyatt said the visit was a great way for her students to hold on to information about and the region鈥檚 role in westward expansion.
Anibal, who has worked for the National Park Service for more than two decades, said helping students is his favorite part of the job.
鈥淓ven more so than adults, I think kids are always the most eager to learn,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e like sponges and just ready to learn. And I'm ready to help them.鈥�
As Anibal passed around replicas of clothes members of the Corps of Discovery would have worn during the Lewis and Clark expedition, students marveled at the buckskin shirt and black leather boots.
Anibal also told students about , the first Black man to cross the continent as an enslaved person to Clark, and , the Shoshone woman who helped the expedition find food, use animal skins to make clothes and establish relationships with Native American tribes.
The fourth graders even toured a floor map as they traced the expedition鈥檚 footsteps on their journey west.
鈥淚 learned more about Lewis and Clark, what they did, and how they traveled,鈥� said Meramec fourth grader Isaiah Labriardo.
His classmate Tinyah White was astonished that the Corps of Discovery used animal skin for clothes. 鈥淚 had a great time!鈥� she said.
Pyatt said the field trip helped add context to lessons she is teaching her students.
鈥淲hen they saw St. Louis back 200 years ago, what it looked like, their eyes just lit up,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey don't realize how much the city鈥檚 changed.鈥�
