TOLEDO, Ohio — All aboard for history!
A new initiative is set to educate Lucas County students about the Great Lakes for free.
Third through sixth graders are getting a "boatload" of history aboard the Col. James M Schoonmaker Museum Ship and inside the National Museum of the Great Lakes.
"Locally, the National Museum of the Great Lakes and the Great Lakes in general have played a big part in the history of Toledo and and we want to bring more Lucas County students here in to that history," said Kate Fineske, director of Communications and Development.
Key Bank and Cleveland-Cliffs each donated $10,000 for students to explore 40 hands-on exhibits, 300 artifacts and two ships.
"Both donations help us kind of kick off this five-year initiative to grow the amount of people that are exposed to history."
This history includes everything from the Edmund Fitzgerald disaster to ships used in historic battles.
Ellen Kennedy is the director of Education and Visitor Experiences. She says it's often a profound experience for the kids.
"What I like is seeing students engaging with history and the history of the Great Lakes and learning something new and being able to read new things and try new things."
"I didn't realize how old this boat was and I was shocked by that. I was thinking it might be younger than what it was, but I didn't realize it was 1911, so it's really old. It's almost as old as the Titanic," said Noah Cole, Wildwood Environmental Academy student.
"There's a lot of interesting things about the Great Lakes. How they used to sail on the Great Lakes and use it to their advantage," said Dylan Lewandowski.
"We recognize the Great Lakes and all that it has done for trade as well as building the community around us as well as the environmental aspects with the animals and ecology that's around, so it's a great representation and it kind of summarizes everything in one trip," said Wildwood Environmental Academy Principal Elizabeth Lewin.
Third through sixth grade teachers can book field trips right now.