MOUNT VERNON – What does 11 million look like?
That’s the question Whitewell, Tenn., students featured in the documentary Paper Clips set out to answer during a classroom project that started in 1998 as a way to show the immensity of life lost during the Holocaust.
Linda Hooper, principal of Whitewell Middle School, and two of her students will visit Cornell College on Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. in Kimmel theatre. They will present the results of the project, talk about the documentary, and speak on the impact this Holocaust project had on their school, their town, and others.
The event is free and open to the public.
Hooper created the project 11 years ago out of her desire to help students open their eyes to the diversity of the world beyond their insulated valley. The project grew as more and more paper clips were sent in until, eventually, 11 million paper clips were collected and housed in a donated World War II railcar that still sits at the school
Paper Clips documented not only the project, but the impact it had on the students’ understandings of diversity and on survivors who visited the memorial and told their stories. The documentary will be shown in the Ratt on Oct. 26, 27, and 28, at a time to be determined.
The Paper Clip Project presentation is part of an annual series of performances and lectures funded by a gift from alumnus Richard Williams ’63 and his wife, Marlene. The series typically sponsors one lecture and one performance each year.
For more information, visit paperclipsmovie.com.