Pioneer School teaches students about days gone by

The day was Thursday.

The year – 1896.

Students in dresses and well-worn bonnets, caps and coveralls lined up outside the one-room schoolhouse, waiting for the bell to ring. As soon as Mrs. Kintz, the schoolmarm, rang the bell, the students moved into action.

“Ladies first, of course,” Kintz said. “But let’s be quick about it.”

The line of girls quietly placed their sack lunches on a shelf, followed by the boys, who did the same before quickly filing into the school and sitting on the hardwood benches.

The young students then recited the Pledge of Allegiance before Mrs. Kintz took attendance, checking in on the children who made the walk to school that day after completing their morning chores.

This was Pioneer School – a tradition that the Rockpile Museum has continued for more than 21 years as a way to keep history alive for students in Campbell County.

The real-life experience gives third graders a glimpse into just how different the modern-day school experience is from that of more than a century ago.

From pick-up and drop-off lines to calculators, Chromebooks and mechanical pencils, schools today look far different than they did 130 years ago.

Thank you to the Rockpile Museum and all of the schoolmarms who expose Campbell County School District third graders to such a unique and immersive learning experience.

We appreciate your hard work and know more than a few of the students who passed through your one-room schoolhouse doors won’t soon forget the references to cow chips, inkwells and old-fashioned multiplication tricks they experienced inside the historic Oriva School.