Metro

Fulfilling The Dream

Washtenaw JCC provides kids hands-on lessons in diversity.

Intern Sarah Kruman of Ann Arbor, right, helps
Diversity Day participants with a world map puzzle.

Below: Eric Shayna, 9, and Liad Lehavy, 10,
both of Ann Arbor, play the congas along with
the Gratitude Steel Band.

SARAH KRUMAN
ROBYN GOTTLIEB

Special to the Jewish News

Ann Arbor
ith passports in hand, 64 children, grades
K-5, learned about diversity as they
walked a mile in someone else's shoes.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 17, the
Jewish Community Center of Washtenaw County
held its second annual Youth Diversity Day. Interns
from the Sol Drachler Program in Jewish Communal
Leadership at the University of Michigan School of
Social Work planned Diversity Day as one of their

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1/27
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projects.
The JCC used the children's day off from school in
honor of Dr. King as the perfect opportunity to
commemorate his vision of creating a world where
people are judged by their character, not their
appearances. Its Youth Diversity Day was designed to
teach children about people with different levels of
physical ability as well as about racial, ethnic and
cultural diversity. The children rotated through five
stations, each highlighting a different aspect of diver-
sity.
One station, "Seeing with Your Other Senses,"
helped children understand the difficulties faced by
those who have visual impairments. Drachler student