A presidential motorcade rolls slowly through a green park. Residents cheer as the president and first lady wave to the crowds from the long black convertible. A 1958 Cadillac follows the presidential car, led by a chrome cavalry of rumbling motorcycles. Secret Service agents watch from behind mirrored sunglasses, past a grassy knoll.

Suddenly, shots ring out from a book depository window, and the course of American history is changed forever.

But this time, the event didn’t take place in Dealey Plaza in Dallas, and nobody was hurt. Students from West Georgia Technical College meticulously re-created the events of Nov. 22, 1963, staging a re-enactment of the John Kennedy assassination on the school’s LaGrange campus as part of a composition and rhetoric class.

With teamwork and collaboration, the students put on a realistic re-creation of the assassination scene in the circular drive on campus. Each student was assigned a role to play and understood how his character influenced the events that unfolded in Dallas that day.

“It was great to see the students really put themselves into it,” said automotive technology instructor Russ Cook, who drove fellow instructor Jim Biagi’s 1958 pink Cadillac in the student motorcade. “They really went to every possible length for accuracy and worked out the challenges among themselves. It was great to watch their process.”

The class, which is required of all degree-seeking students, explores the analysis of literature and articles about issues in the humanities and in society. Students practice various modes of writing, ranging from exposition to argumentation and persuasion.

“My students learn with unique assignments like this one,” said English instructor Trish Ivey, who uses these historical events as a teaching tool. “The Kennedy assassination gives the students plenty of material to research and investigate. Now they’ll write a nine paragraph in-class essay giving their hypotheses about the people or entities that they believe assassinated President Kennedy.”

Student Peter Pardue played the role of Kennedy and found new insight into the assassination.

“I was 12 years old when President Kennedy was killed,” Pardue said. “It’s one thing to view the film and read the reports, but actually sitting there in the car, thinking about what the shots sounded like, really humanized the whole thing for me. I won’t ever forget this.”

Students spent the entire term investigating the assassination. From the Warren Commission report to the most far-fetched conspiracy theories, students pursued various leads to determine who had the resources, opportunity and motivation to kill an American president.

“It’s a writing class,” Ivey said. “They’re learning how to organize ideas and communicate them clearly on paper. The JFK assassination is just the topic; the purpose is to make them good communicators.”

Student Terra Taylor, who played the role of Jacqueline Kennedy, said, “I’ve never done anything like this in school. Learning this way really grabbed me. Ms. Ivey encouraged us to dig into the research and find our own answers, and the whole process was so fun and insightful for everyone. You can tell she cares about her students and pushed us to work hard for the grades. She really brought out the excitement in everyone.”

WGTC President Skip Sullivan praised the project.

“Experiential learning is one of the best ways we can reach a student,” he said. “In technical education, students learn by doing, and at WGTC, we’re proud of taking that to the next level. Our faculty are always coming up with new and creative ways to engage the students, and I’m proud of their innovation.”