Students from American Sr. High, Hialeah, FL, included St. Augustine in their tour of North Florida on the occasion of their visit to the FAMU Rattler Homecoming.
After spending Saturday night (Oct. 
at the fabulous Wyndham Riverwalk Resort on the South Bank, Jacksonville, the 39 students and 7 chaperones led by Director of Bands, Glenn Eichelberger, traveled by deluxe motor coach to the Ancient City to enjoy the ST. AUGUSTINE BLACK HISTORY TOUR, led by yours truly (yes…I am a Licensed Tour Guide in the City of St. Augustine).
We augmented this experience with a special educational model for future tours.
A Timeline and Narrative were forwarded in advance. Students were asked to write a letter during the time spent at the Wyndham; were orally quizzed during the Tour; and then to write another paragraph about something of particular interest to them upon their return to school.
Subjects I covered in the educational model included:
Language Arts: the poems “Educate the Children” by Howard E. Lewis, “New Generation” by Abiodun Oyewole, and “Knowledge is Power” by an anonymous poet, and the oratory from the Narrative I wrote entitled “Flight To Freedom”;
Foreign Language: Spanish and Yoruba;
Music (Percussion with students playing hand-held instruments);
Performing Arts (Drumming and Dance); will add Drama in future;
P. E. (Aerobic Exercise/Dance/Movement during “FUNGA ALAFIA);
Science/Math: navigating by the stars, artillery/gunnery (amount of powder charge, weight of cannon ball, angle of cannon barrel, etc.), City Planning including width of City streets, the flow of fluids (in this case, air);
History (1565 – 1964) to include the close interaction of the Spanish and Africans in the settling, building, defense, and maintenance of the presidio St. Augustine during the colonial periods and the continued Black History through to this present time.
We concluded the Tour at the former site of Mr. Eichelberger’s alma mater, Florida Memorial College, which was located in St. Augustine from 1918 to 1968. Incidentally, that means the first college in St. Augustine was a Black college…hmmm…
It was my honor to conduct this Tour for well-behaved and responsive students who also asked questions to indicate their interest in the subject matter.
I look forward to more schools booking this Tour to include the Educational Model we have designed and instituted.