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Houghton Student on the History Channel

A recent episode of The History Channel’s popular “Battlefield Detectives” series featured Houghton student Andrew Gaerte ’08 as an American Revolutionary war re-enactor. Gaerte also appeared in 12 episodes of a second series which aired on The History Channel during the summer of 2006.

Gaerte has done demonstrations at Fort Niagara, in local schools and for home school groups. Gaerte also has a speaking part in the new orientation video used at the Fort Stanwix Visitor Center in Rome, NY. During the summer of 2006, Gaerte and Rich Strum ’85 worked as educational interpreters for the America First Victory program at Fort Ticonderoga.

An adolescent education and history major, Gaerte says his re-enacting experiences "give me a first-hand knowledge of history that a textbook or movie cannot. In order to perfect my impersonation I have had to do a great deal of primary documentation and research, which has increased my historical knowledge and researching skills.”

He’s also used the re-enactments as a way to hone his teaching skills. “At every event I find myself interacting with the public and answering the questions they have...essentially giving a history lesson.”