STUDENTS FOCUS ON WORLD’S ATROCITIES: MILLBURN GENOCIDE ‘MUSEUM’ OPEN THROUGH JUNE 4
By Jim Newton, jnewton@scn1.com

Waukegan News Sun, IL
yles/966374,5_1_WA23_MILLBURN_S1.article
May 23 2008

MILLBURN — In a windowless, cinder block room in Millburn Central
School, seventh-graders have crafted a display that won’t raise your
spirits, but may raise your awareness.

And that’s the whole point of the multi-media Holocaust-Genocide
Memorial Museum, a commemoration of lives lost to genocide from 1915
to the present.

Student Haley May of Lake Villa said that while she thinks
seventh-graders are a little young to be studying genocide and events
like the Holocaust, it serves a purpose.

"I’m glad we learned it now," she said. "We need to know about
what people did to other people and what they are actually doing in
Darfur now."

May said that raising awareness is one of the best ways to prevent
such atrocities in the future. She expressed hope that the work the
classes put into creating the memorial will have an impact on those
who visit it.

"Overall, we worked really hard on it," May said. "When it was all
done and I walked in, I had tears in my eyes."

The display was created in a joint effort over several weeks by
the seventh-grade language arts, reading, social studies and math
classes at Central School. As part of the lesson plan, students heard
presentations from Larry Shelton, a Holocaust survivor, and Dr. Mary
Olson, whose family includes genocide survivors from Armenia.

The memorial includes posters, Power Point displays and 3-D areas
that make you feel part of the story, May said.

Sections include displays about the Holocaust, "The Forgotten Genocide"
in Armenia from 1915 to 1923, and the current situation in Darfur in
the Sudan.

Social studies teacher David Schroeder said the Millburn Central
seventh-grade teachers are "extremely proud" of the way the students
handled the exercise.

"I think at first they kind of thought it was another assignment,
another grade," Schroeder said, but added that after a while they
formed an emotional involvement in the project that is evident in
the final product.

"We could not be more proud of them," he said. "They rose to the
occasion."

The memorial is open to the public through June 4. Visitors are asked
to schedule a viewing in advance by calling the school office at
(847) 356-8331.