CHULA VISTA, California (Press Release)– While learning about World War II in James Richards’ tenth grade class, students had trouble comprehending the immense amount of Jewish lives lost during the Holocaust.
Richards suggested that they collect six million objects so that the students could visualize what the number looked like. After brainstorming for multiple weeks, students decided that pennies were an appropriate representation of the lives lost during the Holocaust. Pennies were chosen because, during the Holocaust, the Nazis valued a “penny” more than a Jewish life.
Once the students decided to collect pennies, they had to decide what to do with them. After multiple debates, they decided to display the pennies in an inspirational art piece. They plan on housing the pennies in a 6ft. by 6ft. clear cube and donating the piece to one of the National Holocaust Museums. They hope that, by creating such a unique art piece, the public will remember all of the individual lives lost in the Holocaust and prevent it from happening again in the future.
While students are working to collect pennies, they realize that they cannot accomplish this task alone. It is their hope that, with the communities’ help, the goal of creating this memorial will become a reality. So far, the students estimate that they have collected approximately 110,000 pennies. This means that they still have around 5,900,000 pennies left to go.
You can become a part of this project by making a donation, big or small. Any amount will be greatly apprecitated. These donations can be sent to the Pennies Project at High Tech High, 1945 Discovery Falls Drive, Chula Vista, CA 91915-2037
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Preceding provided by Chula Vista High Tech High