McAlester GEAR UP Students Take a Virtual Tour of the Dallas Holocaust Museum

Two hundred fifty-three McAlester freshman and sophomore GEAR UP students participated in a virtual tour of the Dallas Holocaust Museum. The tour began with an introduction of the tour guides Kathy Garber, Carol Pinker, and Veronique Jonas and a brief talk about the history and mission of the Dallas Holocaust Museum. The museum was founded in 1984 by a group of Dallas area Holocaust Survivors. The museum’s mission is to teach the history of the Holocaust and advance human rights to combat prejudice, hatred, and indifference.  They then lead students through exhibits in the Holocaust/Shoah Wing, showing them artifacts from the event.  GEAR UP students viewed a boxcar used to transport Jews from Belgium to the camps and heard about how the coarse blue-grey striped uniforms with badges and serial numbers replaced humans’ names. Guides concluded the tour by encouraging students to consider how they can make a change in the world. They were also given a chance to ask questions about the museum and artifacts. The field trip was sponsored by Eastern Oklahoma State College GEAR UP.  Eastern received a $17 million federal GEAR UP grant in 2017, and will serve more than 3,000 students in 39 area schools for seven years.

More Articles