From the Georgia Daily: Water balloon revolution
The American Revolution made its way to campus on Saturday morning in an unusual reenactment of the historic war.
Assistant history professor Solomon Smith and his class reenacted the war with a game of capture the flag.
Students from Smith’s American Revolution class got an early start Saturday at about 10:15 a.m. Stationed in front of the Newton Building, each team took off in pursuit of the other team’s flag.
“It’s the most effective assignment I’ve created yet,” said Smith.
Smith got the inspiration for the educational game from a friend of his who works as a professor at Appalachian State University.
The students from App State responded very well to this game, so Smith decided that it would be beneficial to his students as well.
This project was a learning experience for a majority of the people involved.
Junior Victoria Crane, history major said it helped her to realize what the revolution was really like.
Capture the flag is a game in which there are two teams and two flags placed in two obvious stations. It is the objective of each team to capture the other team’s flag and win.
The interesting thing about this particular battle was the sight of students pelting each other with water balloons. If a team member were to get hit with a water balloon, then they were considered automatically dead.
“I wanted students to get an overall experience of the chaos that happens during a battle like this,” said Smith.
Contrary to the actual war that lasted for eight years, this game lasted for about 15 minutes, but some students claimed it felt like it lasted an hour.
Team One, technically known as the Americans, won the game while the British were defeated.
Smith’s purpose for this assignment was to get students to experience the basic concepts of an army battle that were used during the American Revolution.
“Students get a chance to learn how to be historians,” said Smith.
The students have been preparing a collection of documents about themselves and their thoughts before the battle.
Now, they must finish up by writing about their overall experience and history of the revolution.
