Originally published by Pat Black-Gould on December 5, 2022
Whitwell Middle School is located in Whitwell, Tennessee. The Children’s Holocaust Memorial is located on the school's campus and receives visitors worldwide. Students give tours to school groups and individuals who visit the museum. Ms. Roberts is retiring at the end of the 2022 school year, but her legacy will continue. Taylor Kilgore, a former Whitwell student, received her master’s degree in Holocaust and Genocide Studies and will take over the program in the next school year.
How could such an amazing project happen in a small town? When I asked Dr. Josh Holtcamp, the current school principal, he stated that Whitwell Middle School already had a caring culture that allowed such a program to grow and flourish.
I decided to include the information about Whitwell Middle School in The Crystal Beads, Lalka's Journey, because I believe it teaches a valuable lesson. As Ms. Roberts stated, “The Paper Clip project has been one of the most powerful lessons I have ever designed and taught. Teaching children to understand the destructive force of hatred and evil will help future generations transition to powerfully empathetic leaders that will honor the past, shape the future, and change the world, even if it’s only one class at a time.”
To learn more about Whitwell Middle School’s project:
Read: Six Million Paper Clips: The Making of a Children’s Holocaust Memorial,
by Dagmar Schroeder-Hildebrand and Peter W. Schroeder
Watch: Paper Clips, available on DVD or Amazon Prime Video. The Children's Holocaust Memorial - The Paper Clip Project
Comments