Future educators learn how to immerse K-12 students in history on battleship

East Carolina University College of Education students immersed themselves in history during a trip to the USS North Carolina in Wilmington.

The students boarded an ECU charter bus bright and early for the two hour ride to the USS North Carolina. During the one-day excursion, they were able to tour the ship, build a scavenger hunt for prospective students and attend multiple breakout sessions to learn from local experts.

The experts and guest speakers included:

John Dunning, the digital archivist at East Carolina University

Dunning specializes in the long-term preservation of digital material, including email, video, software, websites and photographs. Whether working with digital or physical material, he relishes the opportunity to preserve history and share the stories the archival material contains with others.

Trevor Freeman, the USS North Carolina museum educator

Freeman leads K-12 programs on military, social, environmental history and local ecology. He creates virtual and outdoor learning experiences. He has held education roles at the Asheville Museum of History, Cowpens National Battlefield and Bentonville Battlefield, where he led tours, hikes, paddles, and helped develop exhibits and curriculum.

Patrick Cash, manuscripts curator at East Carolina University

Cash is the manuscripts curator at ECU’s Special Collections, where he works to preserve and share the history found within the East Carolina Manuscript Collection. He earned his Master of Library and Information Science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a Master of Arts in History from East Tennessee State University.

Throughout his career as an archivist, instructor and museum curator, Cash has been guided by a passion for connecting people with the past, whether through exhibitions, research support or engaging public programs. His work focuses on expanding access to archival collections and fostering collaboration between universities and the communities they serve.

Madeline Roth, maritime archaeologist

Roth is a maritime archaeologist and current Ph.D. candidate in ECU’s Integrated Coastal Sciences program. She has collaborated on multiple World War 2 Pacific battlefield surveys and excavations. Her favorite experience, however, was recording civilian oral histories of the battle of Saipan. Her current research partners with Pacific Island communities to document and safeguard maritime heritage.