On February 24, 2025, the Five Star Fellowship teachers continued their studies on westward expansion in the United States by exploring the state of Iowa. The in-service prepared teachers with content information on the historical context of Iowa civics, economics, geography, and history. Ronald V. Morris, Ph.D., provided a travelogue of Iowa that included content from First
Nations and their effigy mounds at Effigy Mounds National Historic Site. During summer field studies, teachers will look at the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Living History Farms. A tour of the Amana Colonies will allow teachers to compare and contrast the settlement with the twentieth century and the modern state of Iowa. Teachers also compared events in Ohio with similar experiences in Iowa during the in-service, such as the studio of Grant Wood who painted American Gothic with the manufacturing might of the John Deere and Winnebago factories. Paul LaRue, President of the Ohio State Board of Education and retired social studies teacher from Washington Court House, presented information on the Underground Railroad connection in Ohio and Iowa.