By Darrell Halen 

On most days, Carl Haroian is a Salem High School junior. But during a recent morning, he became William Turner, a young Confederate soldier.

It was part of The Southern Experience, a project where 48 juniors in Comprehensive American Studies II study life in the South around the time of the Civil War, and each take on the persona of someone who lived through that time.

“Being in battle is very scary,” said Haroian, 17, in his role of William, who enlisted in Alabama’s 38th infantry regiment on his 16th birthday and discovered that life in the army is hard and brutal. “You’re not only battling to defeat the enemy but to save your own life. Any battle could be my last.”

Throughout the classroom, small groups of students were stationed, each representing a family.

The three students sitting next to Haroian represented other members of the Turner family in the 1860s: Tom Evans as the father, Tom; Jiana Savage as the mother, Martha; and Jennifer Trickett, as daughter Lilly.

The Turners are a white middle-class Baptist family who live in Mobile, Ala., and own a department store. They own a stable and four slaves.

In addition to creating a persona, students had to read several materials, write letters, poems and other papers, watch a film, read the classic Civil War novel “Red Badge of Courage,” and produce a product or art piece. Gathered in groups, they created the persona of their family.

They started working on their assignments in late November, culminating in the showing of their work on Friday, Jan. 11.

“It starts with small projects and leads up to a big exhibit,” Savage said.

On a table in the Turners’ “home” sat candles and a plate of muffins. Next to Savage was the facsimile of a fireplace.

“My life in the regiment is very tough and brutal,” Haroian wrote in his profile of William. “We are fed small rations, we sleep in tents, and we do drills constantly in the hot southern sun all day.”

Nearby, a group of students played the role of the Stone family who live on a small farm in New Bern, N.C. Rosetta is a 42-year-old widow and mother whose husband’s life ended when he was struck by a bullet.

Jessica Wright, 16, playing the role of Rosetta, said that at the beginning of the project, her group was stressed out and didn’t want to learn about the South.

“As we went along, got more research, got to know each other more, we had more fun doing it,” said Wright who wore an old dress she got from the Salvation Army.

In her group’s makeshift dining room, fruit punch and apple sauce cookies with nutmeg were served.

Letters that Wright had written as Rossetta that were on display had been wrinkled and burned at the edges to make them look old and authentic.

Teacher John Griffin said the project gives students a better understanding of life in the South, where families were greatly affected by the war because most Civil War battles were fought there.

Not all groups portrayed slave owners. Amanda Jones and her partners represented a family of house slaves in Baltimore, Md.

“I must obey their every word and cater to their every wish,” Jones wrote in her profile of Doris, the mother, who cares for the homeowner’s children.

The only education Doris received was learning the alphabet from her father in secret. She used that to teach herself to read and write, Jones wrote.