SCVi Charter School’s sixth annual Civil War Living History event is set to roll out at the historic Rancho Camulos in Piru on Wednesday, June 6, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

As part of iLEAD Schools’ project-based learning curriculum, SCVi’s 8th-grade students will provide the public with a living history display. Each student will portray a person from the Civil War era, remaining in character throughout the event.

This year, iLEAD Encino’s 8th-graders will join the event in the first multi-school Living History Day.

In order to gain a deeper understanding of this tumultuous time in our nation’s history, SCVi and iLEAD Encino’s 8th-grade classes have been taking their learning beyond simply reading about history.

Instead, each student has chosen a person who may have lived in that time, whether a historical figure or a persona they created based on what they’ve learned and researched about life in mid-19th century America.

Students will present their knowledge to their teachers to be assessed, but also, and perhaps equally importantly, they will present their learning to the 1,000-plus visitors expected to attend the living history event.

As guests walk the grounds, they will find displays of Civil War-era inventions, a war hospital, military encampments, a school, witness a court trial, abolitionists, battles, a cotillion, a sutlery (military encampment store) and more, all with 8th-graders participating as living-history docents, sharing their knowledge from a first-person perspective.

The project is led by iLEAD teachers Ingrid Moon, Keith Faulkner and Dustin Lengning. However, each year the students make this project their own, discovering for themselves new things about our nation’s history that excite them enough to want to share with their peers and the community at large.

“What we want people visiting to understand is that this living history day is just the culminating event,” Faulkner said. “The hard work went into the two months leading up to the presentation we will share with the community. These kids have been incorporating their 21st-century learning skills in preparation. They have been inventing, marketing, scheduling, budgeting, planning, showing off their entrepreneurial skills, designing and much more.”

Rancho Camulos is located at 5164 East Telegraph Road (Highway 126), in Piru. A $5 donation is requested to attend.

SCVi’s offers a project-based K-12 curriculum with global and culturally diverse influences. The tuition-free charter school emphasizes an inquiry-based, learner-centered approach to education through
project-based learning. SCVi’s primary goal is to help learners lead a successful and fulfilled life while
contributing to the world around them. More information about SCVi and iLEAD Schools is available at
www.ileadschools.org.