Carol Moore, Chico Higgins (Lexington Coal/TCC), Whitwell Middle School Assistant Principal Joshua Holtcamp, teacher Brady Rorex, and Barry Thacker, PE at the Whitwell School for planning meeting
The site has been prepared using the Forestry Reclamation Approach method. Students will also be transplanting potted blight-resistant American chestnut hybrids and a variety of hardwood bare-root seedlings at the event.
The site has been prepared using the Forestry Reclamation Approach method. Students will also be transplanting potted blight-resistant American chestnut hybrids and a variety of hardwood bare-root seedlings at the event.
The Children's Holcaust Memorial
The Children's Holcaust Memorial
The Children's Holcaust Memorial
Students and teachers at Whitwell Middle School will be participants in the annual TMA/OSM Arbor Day tree planting event this year. Theses students' Holocaust education project has "inspired students and educators from around the globe."
In 1998, they began a simple Holocaust education class that would be the basis for teaching tolerance and diversity in a voluntary after-school program. When the students, mostly white and Christian, struggled to grasp the concept and enormity of the six million Jews who died during the Holocaust, they decided to collect six million paper clips – one for each soul who perished. http://www.oneclipatatime.org/paper-clips-project/
Why paper clips? The students’ research found that Norwegians wore paper clips as a silent protest and symbol of resistance against Nazi occupation during World War II. It was this simple idea that eventually, and quite unintentionally, turned into a worldwide phenomenon, drawing international media attention and letters of support from literally every continent.
Chico Higgins of Lexington Coal/TCC met with assistant principal Joshua Holtcamp and eight-grade teacher Brady Rorex to plan for the planting event. Coal Creek Watershed Foundation provided pure American chestnut seeds and seedlings, so students can grow them in their classrooms for transplanting at the Arbor Day planting site of Lexington Coal/TCC. Students will also be transplanting potted blight-resistant American chestnut hybrids and a variety of hardwood bare-root seedlings at the event, which is scheduled for Tuesday.
The school has a Holocaust Museum, which is housed in a railroad car that had been used to transport Jews to concentration camps. To date, students have collected 30 million paper clips, with 11 million on display in the museum. Coal Creek Watershed Foundation officials visited the museum and the planting site that has been reclaimed by the Forestry Reclamation Approach.