Today, on November 15th, Anthony Trusso, an alumnus from the Class of ‘13, was a guest speaker for the History Club. He works in the government to protect the public parks and has worked in many different parks throughout the country. The club started on Friday at 7:30 A.M., and he gave us a vivid explanation about the Civil War and its complex history. While we usually talk about current events during the club, today was an exception. 

The club started with a quick introduction to our guest speaker, followed by where he lives and where he works. He described what he worked with and how he went about his normal job day today. After that he asked for four volunteers, myself included, and proceeded to use us as examples of different Civil War leaders, describing how each of us was important in the Civil War. He then began to move us from place to place, reenacting and explaining the mistakes the leaders made as well as teaching us what they did well and how they could have fixed or improved their leading strategies. After he allowed us to sit down, he proceeded to tell the class more and more about the Civil War, and the different types of strategies they used to win the war, focusing mainly on the First Battle of Manassas/Bull Run, fought on the site of the state park where he is employed today. Once he finished the explanation, we thanked him for coming all this way, and we left for our first-period classes.

I really liked this presentation and thought that Anthony did a very good job explaining it in the limited amount of time that we had. He spoke loud and clear and at the same time got his message across without making anyone feel bored. It was a really good start to a Friday and helped my mind freshen up before the upcoming school day. Overall it was a really good experience and helped me gain more knowledge on one of the most influential battles in history.