By Symone Yancey
When I first joined World Culture Club my junior year, I was
impressed. The World Culture Club is an after- school activity, run by Ms. Llewellyn, that brings
students together to promote ideas of tolerance and acceptance. You would be
hard-pressed to find another group of kids so willing to accept others and to
embrace their differences. This year, this outstanding club has decided to
increase the already tremendous amount of work they were doing.
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| Holocaust survivor Charles Middleburg spoke to Sterling students |
First,
they made a goal to raise 1,000 dollars for the Goodwin Holocaust Center, which
is a museum that tries to keep the memory of not just the Holocaust alive, but also
of every instance of Genocide. If we never forget the awful consequences of
hatred, then we will be less likely to repeat them. There were a couple of
small things organized to raise money, like pretzel sales and bake sales, but more
was needed. So, the World Culture Club decided to not just make money but to
make an impact on students outside of their circle in a big way. They held a
Movie Night event at which they showed the movie Sarah’s Key. This film adaptation of an award winning novel dealing
with the Holocaust brought tears to the eyes of many in the crowd. And, if that
wasn’t enough, attendees were also able to hear from Holocaust survivor, Charles
Middleburg. His tragic story actually had a happier ending than many because he
escaped this terrible event with his life, but the same cannot be said for some
of his other family. I was lucky enough to speak to him after the event had
ended with a smaller group of people. I found out what an amicable, caring, and
educated man he really was and it made me think that there have been millions
of people just like him that could have majorly contributed to our society in
such a positive way, but they were not allowed to because of the lack of
tolerance in our world.
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| Lessons in Tolerance Readers 2012 |
Another
goal was to spread the ideas of acceptance to the younger students at Sterling’s
sending schools. So, the club started reading to children, grades kindergarten
to third grade at Parkview. I had the pleasure
of reading to a third grade class, and I was also happy to find out that they
already had a bullying program in place to prevent hate and to spread the ideas
we were there to talk about. After I had
read them the story, I realized that the kids seemed to already be pretty
tolerant of each other and didn’t seem to understand why people would be so
cruel. Of course, some of them admitted to being mean to others at times, but
they still understood right from wrong and they were learning. So, if they are
like this as small children, why is it that at our age and older, when we are
supposed to have grown in maturity, we are putting people down for the color of
their skin, their gender, etc? From my experience at Parkview, I learned that
an increase in awareness for young children is clearly making an impact on
future generations. Now it is time for us to step up and make a change in
ourselves for the better, in order to make our world a safer and more loving
place to live.
As I am
about to graduate, I look back on my two years in the World Culture Club with
fondness because I know that through my work with this group of people, I have
made a difference. To all underclassmen, you should think about becoming a part
of this club so that you can be a part of something bigger than yourself,
because one person can definitely make a big difference. And, to my fellow
graduating seniors, I hope that you have learned how to accept others and
tolerate their differences in the past four years and that you will spread that
message throughout your life.
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