George P. Bush Teaches Map Lesson at IWA

Incarnate Word Academy Middle Level students were visited by former U.S. Navy Reserve officer and current Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, on Aug. 23. 

During his visit, Commissioner Bush took a tour of the Middle Level classrooms before teaching a map lesson for Middle Level Texas History students in the Library Media Resource Center. Students gathered in small groups and wore gloves while they studied maps used during Bush’s lesson, similar to the way archivists interact with primary source maps.

The map lesson focused on the Railroad System of Texas in 1887 and sparked discussions about the history of Texas economy, population, trade routes, and much more. 

After the lesson, Commissioner Bush surprised Middle Level students by presenting them a bronze cannonball found on Alamo Plaza in 1875 by Charles Lenz, which was later donated by the Lenz family to the Alamo in 1940. Each student got to hold the 4 ½ pound cannonball and took notice of the dent on the side of the ball, which may indicate that it was misfired sometime during the Siege and Battle of the Alamo.

Incarnate Word Academy was the final stop of the Commissioner’s Year of Education statewide tour of campuses across Texas.