Battle Creek, Mich. –
Students from Harper Creek High School recently gained some insight on how government works along with local history when they visited the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center in Battle Creek, Michigan.
The visit started in the Palm Garden room with a greeting from DLA Disposition Services Director Michael Cannon.
Cannon not only welcomed the students he explained how his agency does supports the warfighter around the globe and how government funding and budgets work.
Then students were given a tour of the building.
While viewing several of the sites unique, architectural highlights the students learned of the building’s legacy.
The buildings tale starts in the aftermath of a 1902 fire that destroyed the Battle Creek Sanitarium, also called the “San.” Dr. John H. Kellogg rebuilt and reopened in 1903, expanded in 1928 with the towers addition.
The Army purchased the financially struggling Sanitarium in 1942, converting it into the largest Army hospital in World War 2. Named the Percy Jones Army Hospital, it served the Army through the Korean War.
Ryan Renner escorted the students, he teaches Advanced Placement Government at Harper Creek, and he said, “Our visit to the Federal Center was very informative.”
“Hearing firsthand from top level leaders about what goes on there and how it fits in the federal government was great,” Renner said. “My students learned unique information about government and also were introduced to some interesting history of their home town.”
The field trip ended where it had begun in the Palm Garden room where Ray Zingaretti, director of Logistics Information Services, explained his agency’s mission and how it supports the Armed Forces. He then thanked them for visiting the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal