Lewis and Clark’s era introduced to Montana middle school students

Billings, Montana — The 16th annual Back to the Future with Lewis and Clark – Technology Then and Now program, taking place at City College at Montana State University Billings for a week, will involve almost 800 seventh graders from southeast Montana.

With eight workshops, the event offers interactive learning that highlights the military goals of Lewis and Clark’s expedition, daily activities, medical practices, and the significance of bison.

According to Judy Foster, one of the event’s partners, the pupils appear to love going back in time.

“I really love the reaction of the students… They tell me such things as ‘thanks for having us’ or ‘thanks for teaching us this’,” Foster said.

Teachers, engineers, sign language instructors, surveyors, doctors, veterinarians, and wildlife specialists are in charge of the classes. Every day of the week, there are approximately 150 pupils in each lesson, which lasts 30 minutes.

Additionally, the seventh graders sample some of the meals that Lewis and Clark consumed while traveling.

“Every year they really enjoy the soup,” Foster said.

Throughout the 16 years, the event has been held, Foster and her boyfriend John Pulasky have loved imparting their expertise of the mission.

The nonprofit Our Montana Inc. is the organization that sponsors this event, which was first held in 2006 as part of a public relations campaign to draw more visitors to Pompey’s Pillar National Monument.