"I should have ran," she said
half-jokingly.
But this week, the bold pro-
posal came to fruition as Mr.
Hearshen and a group of pas-
sionate classmates put on a five-
day curriculum on the Holocaust
for fellow students at Berkley
High.
The students say the program
— four months in the works —
was specifically designed to hold
the attention of other teens, with
special emphasis placed on au-
dience interaction.
"Most teachers spit informa-
tion out and expect you to learn
it," said Holocaust committee
member Tanya Shaye, a 17-
year-old junior. 'The way we're
presenting it — with mono-
logues and poetry and song — if
you don't learn about the Holo-
caust one way, you'll learn about
it another way."
In truth, the program had its
traditional flourishes. On two of
the five days, teachers taught
from Life Unworthy of Life, a
standard high-school Holocaust
curriculum created locally.
But students designed the re-
mainder of the highly individ-
ualized program, which was
presented this week to 18 histo-
ry classes at the 1,200-student
school.
On Monday, the program
opened with the music from
Schindler's List.
Meredith Nusbaum, a junior,
16, and Ms. Shaye offered poet-
ry readings. Ms. Shaye's read-
ing of her own poem, Dancing in
the Darkness, drew prolonged
applause. Senior Miriam Lewis,
17, followed with a haunting
rendition of a Hebrew song.
Other students, including
Scott Adelman, Rachel Nolish
and Rachel Lutz, read essays on
modern-day atrocities in such
far-flung places as Bosnia, Iraq
and Rwanda; on the persecution
of Armenians and of American
Indians; and on the forced relo-
cation -of Japanese-Americans
during World War II.
Senior Eric Adelman, 17, who
traveled on the B'nai B'rith-
sponsored March of the Living
tour of Nazi death camps, then
recounted for students how it
might feel to be a Jew in the
Warsaw Ghetto before traveling
to Auschwitz to die.
On Thursday, the student or-
ganizers introduced seven con-
centration-camp survivors to
individual history classes, giv-
ing students a chance to hear
firsthand accounts of the Holo-
caust, and to ask their own ques-
tions.
The Friday program featured
two plays.
Ms. Maples, the teacher, said
she was overwhelmed by the
amount of work the students put
into the program. She said they
often worked well into the
evening to refine their presen-
tations.
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