By Mark Gregory
Each day high school students across the country sit in a classroom listening to teachers talk about the lesson of the day.
That was what made the history lesson at Plainfield Central last week stand out from the norm.
(Photo by Mark Gregory)
Eric Percy, a 2003 graduate of Central, spoke to the students about World War II from the perspective of a member of the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army.
Percy, 34, has been around living history nearly his entire life and enjoys bringing that back to his alma mater.
“I love history. My aunt and uncle portray Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln and just retired from it as a profession. He was the only Lincoln the Smithsonian ever had on their property giving programs as Lincoln,” Percy said. “I have been in the living history community for 30 years and I love history. If I can get through to one student, I have done my job for the day – and I know I am getting through to more than that because they ask questions and they are engaged.
“I have good memories from this school and the teachers here. The teachers encouraged me to share my knowledge. There are a lot of memories in these hallways.”
The program was born when, as a junior in high school, Percy challenged a battle casualty statistic in the class of his teacher Al Pagnusat.
The two researched the information and while both were off — Percy was closer and a conversation began that resulted in Percy speaking to his class as a soldier.
After his graduation, the program took new life and Percy returned to speak about the Civil War and WWII, and now WWII and Vietnam.
Current history department chairman Steve Lamberti took the position over when Pagnusat retired and retained the relationship with Percy.
“You can’t teach this stuff,” Lamberti said. “You can read a textbook, but to have the kids be able to see and hear and touch history is impactful and the kids love it.”
While Percy obviously did not serve in any of the battles or wars he talks about, he has learned from the veterans of WWII, who have an average age in their 90s and are dying off at a rapid pace or veterans of Vietnam, who more than any veterans, do not always share stories of their time overseas.
These are the stories he brings to the Central students.
“Eric does such a great job of working with veterans and guys that lived through the experiences and he combines that with his studies and does a good job of acknowledging that. He obviously did not serve in World War II or Vietnam, but he wants to share his knowledge and what he has learned.
“Anytime we can put the kids in a situation that is an actual, real world situation and try and have them put themselves in those situations for a few minutes even works for them.”
As these veterans die off and their stories go with them, people like Percy who have a passion to soak up the knowledge and share it with the next generation are the way these experiences live on.
“We still teach people, places and events like we always have,” Lamberti said. “But, we really want to make those social connections. We want to make the kids understand what it was like for people back then, what it was like to live back then. After that, we can build on that and learn about why things happened and build off that social history.”
Lamberti said that while the presentation would be an important one to the school and the history department no matter who was on stage – having Percy even adds another dimension.
“He sat in those seats and watched presentations and things and now he takes a day off work and comes out and his goal is to help our kids and the kids show a lot of respect for him,” Lamberti said. “It would be a great program either way, but to bring a Wildcat back and him willing to give up his time and share his knowledge is very special for us.”