https://www.su.edu/blog/2025/05/21/shenandoah-students-creating-vr-experience-that-follows-the-lewis-and-clark-trail/

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Home >> Shenandoah Students Creating VR Experience That Follows The
Lewis And Clark Trail

Shenandoah University News

Shenandoah Students Creating VR Experience That Follows The Lewis And
Clark Trail 'Following in Their Footsteps' immerses users in key
moments, stories of the famed cross-country expedition

Shenandoah Students Creating VR Experience That Follows The Lewis And
Clark Trail 'Following in Their Footsteps' immerses users in key
moments, stories of the famed cross-country expedition

May 21, 2025

A team of students at Shenandoah University is wrapping up work on a
groundbreaking virtual reality project that will change how people
learn about and experience the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The VR experience, titled "Following in Their Footsteps," was
developed by seniors Tyler Dossatt '25 (Bachelor of Science in
virtual reality design), Ann Fink '25 (B.S. in VR design), Joey
Miciotta '25 (Bachelor of Arts in VR design) and Gabby Pieklo '25 (
Bachelor of Arts in media and communication), and is the result of a
nine-month process that kicked off in August 2024, with a 12-day,
cross-country, faculty-led road trip from Shenandoah's main campus in
Winchester, Virginia, to Astoria, Oregon. The project is funded in
part by a $7,500 grant from the Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance.

Shenandoah students sit in a canoe on the water.Retracing the steps
of the Corps of Discovery - the team composed of U.S. Army and
civilian volunteers led by Meriweather Lewis and William Clark - as
it explored the land acquired by the United States as part of the
Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Shenandoah's students, led by Immersive
Media Specialist Lee A. Graff, M.Ed., stopped at many of the key
sites along the path, capturing 360-degree video and other content
that was used to develop the immersive VR program through the 
Shenandoah Center for Immersive Learning (SCiL).

The VR experience provides a new level of interactivity and access to
the significant sites and moments associated with the Lewis and Clark
Expedition, and aims to capture newer audiences and expand users'
understanding of this important piece of American history through the
use of immersive media.

"We definitely should teach more about it in schools because so many
people aren't educated enough on this very impactful part of
history," Pieklo said. "The expedition is important, and it kind of
represents what America stands for. You know about the Louisiana
Purchase. That was a big thing, we hear about that. It's one of the
main things that I remember from my history classes. But I didn't
know what happened after that. We didn't just get all of this land
and people were just moving there. There was that point of discovery
between those two major parts of our history."

"Following in Their Footsteps" allows users to experience key
locations from the expedition, which began on May 14, 1804, in Camp
Dubois, Illinois, and ended at Fort Clatsop, Oregon, nearly two years
later. Users can interact with artifacts and key items used during
the journey, and hear the stories of Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea, and the
rest of the Corps of Discovery from more than 20 experts on the
expedition. The VR experience also tells the stories of the
lesser-known individuals who played prominent roles in the Corps of
Discovery.

"There's a lot of pieces to it, but I think there's a lesson in every
story and there are several ways to look at stories," Dossat said.
"History should always be preserved so that we can learn from the
past."

A Shenandoah student takes a photograph atop a rock ledge overlooking
farmland below.In addition to the meticulous documentation of
historical sites, Shenandoah's team collected hours of interviews
with historical experts and averaged six hours of travel each day.
Shenandoah University's location at the top of Virginia also provided
easy access to significant Lewis and Clark locations on the East
Coast, including Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh;
Charlottesville, Virginia; and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, that
students visited outside of the cross-country trip.

SU conducted the 12-day cross-country trip in close collaboration
with the Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance (LCTA) and its director,
Richard Hunt.

"I would have never had the opportunity to do this without the Lewis
and Clark Trail Alliance's support and without their donation," Fink
said. "When am I ever going to be able to do that again? ... Being able
to be funded, to go across the country and see everything Lewis and
Clark saw - just experiencing it and seeing it in person is a
completely different thing than reading about it. It was an amazing
experience."

Students' work on the project continued after the August 2024 trip
across the country, and includes 3D modeling and environment
creation, as well as video editing by students Ethan Swope '25 (B.A.
in VR design), Jacob Eisenhart '25 (B.A. in VR design), Kadin Myers
'27 (B.S. in VR design), Aaron Van Rens '27 (B.A. in VR design and 
B.A. in film production), and Pieklo. Original music is being
composed by Jaden Galloway '27 (B.A. in collaborative audio arts).

SCiL intends to launch "Following in Their Footsteps" in Fall 2025,
and it will be available to the public. 

Shenandoah students and faculty pose for a photo on a bridge spanning
a river.Graff is also producing a video series detailing the
expedition that will be presented to the LCTA at its national meeting
in Kansas City, Missouri, in September 2025.

"I always thought of Lewis and Clark as these two guys in a canoe
exploring the land. The story is so much more than that. It is about
exploration, but it's also about diplomacy, biology, geography, loss,
and adventure. It's about incredible luck and amazing circumstances,"
Graff said. "These people did an amazing feat and I almost missed
this story. I'm so glad that the students and I have learned this
amazing story. Now we get to share it with everyone else in a new and
immersive way."

Categories: Arts & Sciences, Arts & Sciences Spotlight, Division of
Applied Technology, Magazine News, scil, Virtual Reality Design,
Virtual Reality Design Spotlight

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Shenandoah Students Creating VR Experience That Follows The Lewis And
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'Following in Their Footsteps' immerses users in key moments, stories
of the famed cross-country expedition

May 21, 2025

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