Two history professors at Weber State University, Gene Sessions and Richard Sadler, hopped on board. The program is now based at WSU.

The first seminar was last summer and included history of the West. Sixteen teachers, along with Sessions and Sadler, boarded a bus and visited sites all over the state. Fred Gowans, a retired Brigham Young University history professor, joined the group. The history educators studied mountain men, fur traders, Mormon settlers and American Indians, as well as travel modes, including wagons, handcarts and railroad.

This year's group of teachers who went to Washington, D.C., said it was an incredible week of collaboration and learning. "The best thing was going with people who share my passion for history. It was amazing to me," said Libby Robertson, who teaches eighth-grade history at Willowcreek Middle School in Lehi.

The teachers will share what they have learned with their students this fall. "We can't wait to get back and teach it," said Russ Porter, who instructs 11th-grade history at Bonneville High School in Ogden.

Robertson said, "Most of the students in Lehi haven't traveled east of the Rockies. All they will know about the historical sites is what I tell them."

Beck said there are many Hispanic students in her school who don't have the basics of how this country was started. "A lot of lives were sacrificed to get to where we are today so we can have freedoms," she said.

Each of the 30 teachers on the D.C. trip was assigned to prepare a lesson plan to share. Cody Bowen, who teaches history at Summit High School in Kamas, South Summit School District, taught a lesson on the Amish. Others spotlighted the Lincoln Memorial, Independence Hall and Mount Vernon.

The teachers were assigned homework before the trip, including reading four books: "Miracle in Philadelphia," "Founding Brothers," "Killer Angels" and "1776."

Bowen said it was especially helpful to have Sessions and Sadler on site to lecture on the historical background. "There's just something about being able to say, 'I've been there. This is what it's like."'

Congressman Rob Bishop, R-Utah, even gave the teachers a personal two-hour tour of the Capitol. He is a former history and civics teacher.

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E-mail: astewart@desnews.com