Jamestown. Mount Vernon. Ellis Island. Gettysburg. It sounds like a well-rounded history lesson. But add Nauvoo, Far West, Independence and Palmyra into the mix and it’s the Mormon America Travel Studies.

This fall, 35 students and three professors spent a month touring historical sites for both the United States and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

After a summer full of homework for the credits earned, the trip was definitely worthwhile for Megan Kirk, a sophomore from Hollister, Calif. Kirk chose to go because she wanted to see all the Church history sites she had been learning about in her Church history classes. She thought it would be a great way to learn.

Listening to the teachers and their testimonies was one of Kirk’s favorite parts of the trip. “We were all together learning and growing,” Kirk said. “I also liked the different areas of literature and U.S. history. My testimony of the Church grew.”

Nate Williams a Religious Education professor enjoyed teaching on site. “There’s something unique about being able to teach at the very location,” Williams said.

Learning on location is an experience for students as well.

Jordan Ballard, a senior from Boulder, Colo., a member of the tour and said that regardless of the many ways that ones testimony can grow, “the experience of being in these places and feeling the Spirit is indescribable.”

As a social studies education major, Ballard has a strong passion for U.S. history. She loved visiting the places where this country was founded and feels she is more prepared to teach about them. Ballard also gained faith in our country.

“Being here, I can really see how the events of this country took place,” Ballard said. “God really did have His hand in the events of this country.”

From a U.S. history perspective, Williams enjoyed branching out. “I had a great feeling of respect and reverence for the contribution George Washington gave to this country,” Williams said. “I came to understand more clearly his goodness.”

It was Williams’s first experience on this specific tour. The tour used to be during the summer track, but is now during the first month of fall. Williams said it helps students who are off track keep up on some credits in a unique way.

The tour flew out of Salt Lake City to Richmond, Va., where the road trip began. Williams said the group became close friends. “I was amazed and impressed at how they worked together,” Williams said. “It really was quite remarkable.”

Inevitably, being together 24 hours a day, seven days a week for a month did take its toll. “Sometimes on the long bus rides we would just do our own things,” Kirk said. But the students bonded as a group.

“We played ‘name that tune’ on the bus,” Kirk said. “Somebody plugged in his i-pod and when we guessed the song one of the teachers would throw us a piece of candy. It was fun.”

As much fun as the students had, there were a lot of moments when the spirit was strong. The group had the opportunity to do an early-morning session of baptisms for the dead in the Nauvoo Temple.

They also got to tour the Kirtland Temple, which is owned by the Community of Christ and were able to sing “The Spirit of God” in the room where the temple was dedicated, where it was sung for the first time. Ballard described the experience as a very moving and special experience.