(February 20, 2002) -- Over 200 sophomores visited the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance last Friday and Feb. 8 to learn more about historical events such as the Jewish Holocaust. This trip was part of the humanities classes study of World War II.
During the tours, guides led the students to watch a television screen on the wall showing past leaders such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and their racist views. In another room, interactive computers linked to “hate” sites were available to show students the warning signs of intolerance.

“Our guide, Walter, made out visit even better than it would have been otherwise,” said teacher Cynthia Puchniarz.

The information in the museum was presented to the sophomores in many different approaches. One feature of the museum is the “Point of View” Diner where students watched videos about responsibility. Other rooms contained videos, writings on the wall and recorded conversations.

“The students were interested and learned a lot because of the way things were presented there,” said humanities teacher’s aid, senior John Nahas.

At another stop, students received a card which had a picture of one child on it. When they reached the end of the museum, they slid their cards into a slot in a computer and got a printout. This printout showed whether the child on each student’s card had lived or died during the Holocaust.

After the field trips, emotion and reactions about the tour were high.

“Almost every single one of the students who went on this field trip had been deeply affected by the things they saw at the museum,” Ashken Mirzoyan said. “Most of them even got teary-eyed at one point.” The group ended their trip with a quick stop at the Farmers Market for food and drinks.

Angela Khurdadzhayan commented, “It had a big effect on me.  It was sad to see how people were really treated.”

Humanities teacher Kristin Danielson said that the experience was “intense” and memorable.