Living History

By Lilia Compton

Learning, laughter, and enlightenment have been central aspects of the 2025 Governor’s Scholars Program (GSP) Historical Analysis class. Francis Musoni’s class spent their 5 weeks in the GSP diving into resources and learning about culture and history all around Africa and some various locations. Francis himself is from Zimbabwe, and he has used his first-hand experiences to give scholars an in-depth understanding on life in Africa.

 “We’ve spent lots of time focusing on Zimbabwe … I had not learned anything about it at all before then,” said Cate Brown. Having Francis as a teacher has left a tremendous impact on students since they’ve been able to hear stories and learn from a primary source. 

For one of their final projects, scholars were able to listen to audio recordings of refugees and create a presentation to teach the class about life in different parts of the continent. As they’ve been learning, scholars have been able to partake in interactive tasks like Four Corners and cooking traditional African food. Inside Franklin Hall’s kitchen, the Historical Analysis students were able to all work together to make dishes from scratch and share a meal together. 

“We cooked Sadza, it was cornmeal and water for the base. Then we also cooked kale and peanut butter together,” said Cate Brown. Francis taught the scholars how to properly eat the foods together with their hands, which was a culture shock for some. Another activity that scholars participated in was taking a field trip to Home Place in Dover, Tennessee. Home Place is a living history museum set up to display southern Kentucky living in the 1850s. Through both field trips and hands-on experience, scholars have been able to learn about the past through many different perspectives. 

Peers have grown close over the course of the program as they have worked together and discussed both history and politics. Strong friendships have grown, and students have created lasting memories. In the front of the classroom resides a chalkboard full of funny quotes said by Francis that scholars have joked about throughout the program. 

“I would definitely recommend it, I would definitely take it again,” said Matthew Wattenberger. The time spent in Historical Analysis has most definitely been well-spent and intellectually stimulating for all scholars involved.