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The Village hosted 3 bands--Wishtribe, Drop Dead Syndicate and The Operator on Friday night. All for $1!
Fifth-graders at Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences proudly donned gold paper clips on Wednesday to symbolize resistance to intolerance.
During their study of World War II over the last nine weeks, the students learned that the Norwegians wore paper clips to demonstrate their opposition to Nazi Germany during the war. The kids wanted to share in this stance.
"The students have been trying to understand why people would hurt each other like this," said Tina Whaley, who teaches fifth grade at CSAS. "We have been talking about how we can prevent this from happening again, and what the students' roles are in determining our future."
As part of their study, each student created visual displays on topics they chose that correlate with the war or Holocaust. On Wednesday the students showcased their work, explaining their projects to parents and students who wandered among the exhibits in the school cafeteria.
The kids spoke with authority about the effects of radiation from the atomic bomb. Several boys re-enacted key battles with gray and blue plastic soldiers. Someone built a Lego battleship and the Bataan Death March was represented by a painting.
The students said they were affected by what they studied.
"Learning this stuff changed me," Noah Akins said. "It's made me think about how we treat each other."
For his project, Noah built a three-dimensional model of the entrance to the Auschwitz death camp and the train tracks leading to its gates. He said he was shocked to realize that the same number of people died there as the current population of Hamilton County.
Noah wrote a poem in his English class, too. He repeats the phrase, "I think that this was horrible," at the beginning and end of all three stanzas.
Kelly Coffelt, principal of the lower school, said Tennessee state standards require fifth-graders to study WWII. She is proud of the way CSAS integrates the theme into its entire curriculum.
"We are a school that tries to stretch students' thinking," Coffelt said. "We push them to think about the world around them through all disciplines."
Sam Palmer spoke softly about his project, a visual representation of the Battle of Midway. He and his mom worked together to suspend paper airplanes inside a cardboard box painted blue to represent the ocean.
"This is where the torpedo bombers went low to attack the Japanese," he said, pointing at the planes that hung inches above a battleship he'd built of cardboard. "This attack spread [the Japanese] air force thin and forced them into a tactical retreat."
Accompanying his model was a series of bar graphs Sam made in math class to represent the number of planes lost by either side in the battle.
Sam said his project has special significance to him because his great-grandfather and grandfather both fought in the war.
"I've learned the full extent of what they fought for," Sam said. "I'm really proud of them."
Contact staff writer Kendi Anderson at kendi.anderson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592.