Students learn 'the pain of persecution'

Sophomores at Largo High wear arm bands and badges and learn that individuals can effect change.

By LORRI HELFAND, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 22, 2001

LARGO -- This week, sophomores in Largo High School's magnet program learned a serious lesson. And an empowering one.

[Times photo: Boyzell Hosey] Students in the 21st Century Learning Center magnet program open a small classroom museum of their work by knocking over dominoes, illustrating how one person's actions can affect many.

After completing a lesson on the Holocaust, the magnet students studied other groups of people who have been persecuted, as well as individuals who fought to make their lives better. The project, titled "The Pain of Persecution -- One Person Can Make a Difference," was an assignment integrating English and world history classes.

The students in the magnet program, called the 21st Century Learning Center, picked their subjects in a blind drawing and had the option of partnering with a classmate or working individually.

Subjects ranged from Betty Friedan, spokeswoman for the modern American feminist movement, to Nelson Mandela, spiritual leader of the anti-apartheid movement.

All week, the sophomores in 21st Century had to walk the halls wearing arm bands and badges representing the persecuted groups they were studying. If their teachers, Toni Mullins or Shelley Annable, caught them on campus without their badges, it was an automatic five-point deduction from the 200-point project.

Mullins and Annable said they wanted their students to wear the bands at all times to educate other students and to see what it felt like to be singled out.

"Not only were Jews persecuted, but all different types of people were persecuted in history. So, they get the feeling of what it was like," Annable said.

For the project, students made 2- by 4-foot poster displays on their subjects. They also wrote reports and taped short video presentations.

On Friday, students showcased their works in a small classroom museum and invited teachers and schoolmates to the tour.

To further illustrate the idea that one person can make a difference, the students made dominoes out of shirt boxes and decorated each with a picture of their subject. They kicked off the museum event by knocking the first domino over, creating a chain reaction.

Emily Morrow, 15, who studied United Mine Workers leader John Lewis, said the project convinced her that an individual can make a difference.

"If you work hard enough, you can change anything you want to," she said.

Lisa Aristizabal, 15, said the project she worked on with partner Megan Procaccio left her with mixed feelings.

"We both feel that it's really sad that stuff like that had to happen. To think that people were treated that way was horrible. But then I'm glad that there were people like this to pave the way," she said, gesturing toward a display of Rosa Parks.

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