Seventh-Graders Explore Technology of Lewis & Clark at MSU Billings College of Technology

Nearly 800 students to take part in “Back to the Future with Lewis & Clark: Technology Then & Now” event next week

MSU BILLINGS NEWS SERVICE – Even though the full exploration of events surrounding the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery culminated in 2006, educational exploration continues through Montana State University Billings.

Next week (Jan. 7-12) the MSU Billings College of Technology will turn into a modern day camp of exploration for hundreds of seventh-graders in the Yellowstone River valley.  “Back to the Future with Lewis & Clark: Technology Then & Now” features a week of interactive experiences, showcasing the technologies used by Lewis and Clark and his men during their Voyage of Discovery more than 200 years ago along with comparisons to current technologies 

Events start at 9 a.m. each day and features displays, an encampment and live buffalo.

John Pulasky, a Billings meteorologist, is helping the MSU Billings COT coordinate the event. He said he expects about 800 seventh-graders from Laurel to Melstone and from Billings to Forsyth and points in between.

According to Pulasky, a group of exhibits and demonstrations will be presented on the technologies that members of the Lewis and Clark expedition used to meet the challenges of their historic endeavor. This will be combined with exhibits and demonstrations of what current technologies would be used, today, to accomplish the same jobs.

This marks the third year of the program. It was part of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial “signature event” held in Yellowstone County in the summer of 2006 and was continued as a legacy of that historic event, Pulasky said.

“We had such good success with it the first year that we decided to keep it,” he said.

He noted that he believes the “Back to the Future with Lewis & Clark” event is one of the few signature events from the nation’s bicentennial celebration that continues today.

“We’re pretty proud of it,” he said.

During their weeklong experience, students will experience a variety of exhibits and learning stations designed to give them a comparison of “then and now” technologies experienced by members of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery.

The exhibits and demonstrations will include topics on weather and climate; medical technology and treatment of diseases/injuries; mapping and surveying; mechanical/blacksmithing; and flora and fauna.

For more information on the events, contact the MSU Billings College of Technology at 247-3000.