In Gettysburg’s outdoor classrooms and historic landscapes, students develop leadership skills through hands-on challenges, critical reflection, and immersive experiences that prepare them to guide others with confidence and purpose.
The Gettysburg region—home to orchards, forests, and a world-famous battlefield—is more than a historic landmark. It’s a training ground for leadership, a place where students learn to make decisions, adapt to challenges, and guide others.
“I really like the location of the College because all of these different aspects of outdoor recreation are so close and accessible,” said Riley Nolan ’26, a double major in environmental studies and anthropology and an outdoor facilitator with the Garthwait Leadership Center.
Through the GLC, Nolan, who is from Newmarket, New Hampshire, has led and participated in hiking, paddling, climbing, and backpacking trips around the Gettysburg battlefield as well as nearby Michaux State Forest and the Appalachian Trail.
“They’re great areas to learn technical skills, but also leadership and facilitation skills. It’s the perfect playground for trial and error and experiential education,” she added.
Leadership development at Gettysburg also happens through historical engagement and interpretation. Interdisciplinary Studies Prof. Ian Isherwood ’00 uses the battlefield to help students think critically about leadership and its consequences. In his courses, students retrace troop movements from July 1863, discussing strategy, decision-making, and memory.
“The battlefield is more than just a preserved historical site,” Isherwood explained. “It inspires profound questions about war and the meaning of violence and trauma. It’s our job as historians to help students use these lessons to think critically about leadership and society.”
For history major Sam Lavine ’25 from nearby York, Pennsylvania, these experiences have been transformative. They helped him develop a deeper understanding about the power of place in historical settings as he pursued career opportunities with the National Park Service, Antietam National Battlefield, and the Eisenhower Historical Site over the last three years.
“Dr. Isherwood’s program appeals to a wide range of audiences, from those eager to learn about tactics and leadership decisions to other students whose interests lie in memory and monuments; his work in the field ties both elements together perfectly,” Lavine noted.
Jaeger Held ’22, a former history major from Broadus, Montana, was a Civil War reenactor long before he arrived on campus. Coming to the College and receiving feedback and mentorship from faculty like Adams Endowed Professor of Theatre Arts Chris Kauffman and Civil War Era Studies Prof. Carol Reardon helped him expand his passion for living history and establish a strong foundation for his career. Today, he works as a National Park Service ranger at Fort Laramie National Historic Site in eastern Wyoming, performing reenactments along the historic route of the Oregon Trail.
“The Gettysburg faculty all guided me towards new sources that increased both the breadth and depth of my historical understanding and contributed to my portrayals of soldiers and civilians in the living history and reenactment realm,” Held said.
In Gettysburg, leadership isn’t taught in isolation. It emerges from shared experiences—on the trail, on the battlefield, and in moments when students step forward to guide others through the unfamiliar.
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By Corey Jewart
Photos courtesy of Abbey Frisco, Luke Waldner, Jason Minick
Posted: 09/12/25