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Hamburg, Iowa —
The hard work of two Hamburg High School students has transformed the school’s library into an elaborate multimedia museum dedicated to telling the story of 9-11.
Bianca Patel and Rebecca Sears opened their class project to the public on Monday and began giving presentations to fellow students, teachers and interested members of the community. Artifacts ranging from newspapers detailing the tragedy at the twin towers to the election ballots used in Iraq help tell the story from New York across the ocean to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Months ago, the girls formulated the idea to do a project about 9-11 for History Day; however, things did not pan out that way.
“We were going to do ... History Day, but it fell on the same day as State Speech, but we wanted to do it anyway,” Sears said.
The topic for History Day was heroes and the girls both immediately thought of the men and women who lost their lives as a result of the terrorist attack on New York’s Twin Towers.
Sears said she felt especially close to the events, even though she was only 8 at the time, because her uncle, Nick Esser, is a National Guardsman deployed to fight in the war.
“I didn’t know a lot about it, but I wanted to learn more because it was a very important day in American history,” she said.
The day of the attacks she said she remembers her mother picking her up from school, something that was very unusual.
“I just remember everyone being frantic,” she said.
While the initial idea for the project was formulated in October, it did not transform into a full-fledged museum until late February or March.
Both Sears and Patel are part of Hamburg’s Talented and Gifted (TAG) program and were given the option to take part in an alternative to daily history class. After passing a pre-test, they were excused from the normal day-to-day assignments.
While the class was being taught, they worked independently on their project, turning it in at the end of the year to replace the points they would have earned doing daily assignments.
The girls say the independent study allowed them the freedom take their project to the next level.
“We could do whatever we wanted and were able to make it our own,” Patel said.
This meant Patel could focus on her scrapbook detailing 9-11 and the events leading up to it, and Sears could focus on a digital sideshow.
“I had countless nights I’d stay up until 2 a.m. working,” Patel said.
Their hard work is evident as visitors to the museum are moved to tears watching the slide show.
“We cried the first two months we were working on it,” Sears said. “It’s still sad, but it doesn’t make us cry now.”
Their museum will be on display in the Hamburg High School library through May 15.
The hard work of two Hamburg High School students has transformed the school’s library into an elaborate multimedia museum dedicated to telling the story of 9-11.
Bianca Patel and Rebecca Sears opened their class project to the public on Monday and began giving presentations to fellow students, teachers and interested members of the community. Artifacts ranging from newspapers detailing the tragedy at the twin towers to the election ballots used in Iraq help tell the story from New York across the ocean to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Months ago, the girls formulated the idea to do a project about 9-11 for History Day; however, things did not pan out that way.
“We were going to do ... History Day, but it fell on the same day as State Speech, but we wanted to do it anyway,” Sears said.
The topic for History Day was heroes and the girls both immediately thought of the men and women who lost their lives as a result of the terrorist attack on New York’s Twin Towers.
Sears said she felt especially close to the events, even though she was only 8 at the time, because her uncle, Nick Esser, is a National Guardsman deployed to fight in the war.
“I didn’t know a lot about it, but I wanted to learn more because it was a very important day in American history,” she said.
The day of the attacks she said she remembers her mother picking her up from school, something that was very unusual.
“I just remember everyone being frantic,” she said.
While the initial idea for the project was formulated in October, it did not transform into a full-fledged museum until late February or March.
Both Sears and Patel are part of Hamburg’s Talented and Gifted (TAG) program and were given the option to take part in an alternative to daily history class. After passing a pre-test, they were excused from the normal day-to-day assignments.
While the class was being taught, they worked independently on their project, turning it in at the end of the year to replace the points they would have earned doing daily assignments.
The girls say the independent study allowed them the freedom take their project to the next level.
“We could do whatever we wanted and were able to make it our own,” Patel said.
This meant Patel could focus on her scrapbook detailing 9-11 and the events leading up to it, and Sears could focus on a digital sideshow.
“I had countless nights I’d stay up until 2 a.m. working,” Patel said.
Their hard work is evident as visitors to the museum are moved to tears watching the slide show.
“We cried the first two months we were working on it,” Sears said. “It’s still sad, but it doesn’t make us cry now.”
Their museum will be on display in the Hamburg High School library through May 15.
