As the world prepares for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, a group of educators from across the world has been exploring the origins of the games on the Monmouth College campus.
Monmouth College hosted the two-week summer institute, “The Ancient Olympics and Daily Life in Ancient Olympia: A Hands-On History.”
K-12 teachers from around the world explored the cultural significance of the games and learned how to teach students about the Olympics as well as everyday life in ancient Olympia.
“One of the major goals was to explore the Olympic games as a cultural phenomenon of the ancient world,” said Nathalie Roy, co-director of the institute.
Roy concentrated on daily life in ancient times, which is something she incorporates with her students in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
“I started this kind of teaching many years ago because I felt like the story of everyday people’s lives is missing in the literary record and I wanted my students to experience the things that ancient people did every day to give them a better sense of what those lives were like,” she said.
Bob Holschuh Simmons, director of the summer institute and a professor of Classics at Monmouth College, focused on the Olympic games portion of the institute.
He said the summer institute was made possible after Monmouth College received a $175,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2023. The NEH is one of the largest federal funders of humanities programs in the United States.
“We looked into this NEH summer institute and it required a tremendous amount of precision and specificity,” said Simmons. “We had to be rather concise in our narrative that we put together and that was its own challenge, just explaining what we would be doing.”
Once the college secured the grant, Roy and Simmons created a website where teachers from around the world could submit their application to attend the program.
A separate committee chose 25 K-12 educators who would come to experience ancient Olympia in Monmouth. They had teachers from Washington, Alabama, New Hampshire, and even Azerbaijan.
Each day of the institute started with learning about and recreating an Olympic event. They were able to experience activities like javelin throwing, discus throwing, chariot riding, and pankration, which is similar to modern day mixed martial arts.
Teachers also had more hands-on opportunities to explore the daily lives of ancient Olympia, and they used the educational farm at Monmouth College to learn about ancient agriculture and beekeeping and the similarities to modern day practices.
They also spent time weaving, creating Roman concrete, and making ancient ceramics through the process of Raku firing followed by lectures from other teachers.
Roy and Simmons wanted to provide educators the resources to bring these activities back home and show them how exciting it can be for their students.
“Kids really enjoy doing things in a very hands-on way,” said Roy. “Things are so much more memorable to them when they’re doing it with their hands, and not only with their hands. When they’re smelling the ancient world, when they’re hearing the ancient world, when they’re feeling it.”
Elizabeth Proctor teaches 6th grade humanities and English in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. She said she gained more confidence in her ability to bring these types of activities back to her classroom.
“It can be really difficult when you are the only person who teaches what you teach at your school,” said Proctor. “That’s probably thing I’m most excited to get into, to start really incorporating those hands-on activities because I know how much I enjoy them and I think anything where you can have fun with your students, while they’re still learning something creates a bond and a relationship that helps you be a better teacher and helps them be better students.”
Kezia Dearden teaches high school U.S. and World History in Herriman, Utah. She recently took a three-week trip to Rome where she was able to immerse herself in the ancient world and gain new appreciation for Roman construction.
“I had seen the Roman concrete in action and how long it’s lasted and then to be able to actually understand the process of how this works and to be able to in some kind of way recreate it. It was so cool to actually learn the process,” said Dearden.
Not only were educators learning how to bring these ideas back for their lessons, but they were also able to teach each other ways to continue to connect with the art of Classics.
“The energy level of these people has been so inspiring,” said Simmons. “All of these people have uprooted themselves from their locations all around the nation. They have brought so much enthusiasm and passion, interest, affirmation, preparation, willingness to take part in whatever we’re doing and they’re so smart.”
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