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PENNY SHARED IS WORTH A MILLION
Bandera, Texas
● February 8, 2008
They say that
a penny doesn’t buy much these days, but for a group of
students at Bandera High School, the penny has bought
them a lesson in cooperative thinking, tolerance, and
first hand knowledge of 20th century history.
After reading an article in the San Antonio
Express-News, students in Cindy Mazurek’s English II
class decided to collaborate with some 5th
graders who attend Navarro Intermediate School located
near Seguin. Earlier this year, the Navarro students
began working on a project called “Pennies for the
Persecuted”. Six million pennies will be collected, with
each penny representing the life of a Holocaust victim.
“Once my
students read about this project, they decided to help
the Navarro kids out” explained Mazurek. Since the BHS
students were reading Elie Wiesel's Night, a
memoir that focuses on the year the author spent at the
Nazi death camp Auschwitz, collaboration was a natural
fit. The high school students began collecting pennies
and corresponding with their younger counterparts.
After a few
months of working together, the students finally had the
opportunity to meet face to face. A select group of
students from Navarro ISD known as the “Tolerance Tweens”
traveled to Bandera High School with their teachers Lisa
Barry and Traci Brodbeck to interact in person.
Superintendent Dr. Kevin Dyes welcomed all of the
students and stressed the importance of tolerance by
sharing one of his favorite quotes from John F. Kennedy
- “Tolerance implies no
lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it
condemns the oppression or persecution of others."
Several
students from both schools addressed the group. One
Bandera student in particular, Chelsea Crenshaw, relayed
the memories of her visit to Poland this past summer
where she toured the remaining concentration camps. The
students were attentive and alert as she described the
horrific remnants of the gas chambers and ovens used in
the camp. Crenshaw explained how she felt the
Holocaust’s victims pain and experienced a little of
what they might have gone through.
The
culmination of the visit was the presentation of almost
14,000 pennies that the BHS students collected for the
Navarro project. With the quest of collecting six
million, the bond between the students is sure to last
beyond this school year.
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PHOTO ATTACHED:
Mazurek
Drake
Jewell explains the classes cooperative lesson with
Navarro Intermediate School while teacher Cindy Mazurek
listens on.
PHOTO ATTACHED:
Crenshaw
BHS
student Chelsea Crenshaw tells the Navarro students
about her visit to the Auschwitz Camp in Poland this
past summer.
PHOTO ATTACHED:
T-Shirts
The
Navarro students are presented with Bulldog T-Shirts to
commemorate their visit to Bandera.
PHOTO ATTACHED:
Dyes
Superintendent Dr. Kevin Dyes welcomes the visiting
students and presents a quote from JFK.
PHOTO ATTACHED:
Pennies
Drake
Jewell presents a box of pennies to Vince Haas from
Navarro ISD.
PHOTO ATTACHED:
Students
Bandera and Navarro students take the opportunity to get
to know each other a little better. |
