First-Year Seminar Travels to D.C. over Fall Break Trip to Holocaust Museum Inspires Dialogue, Reinforces Material

Author: Lanford Beard

The most powerful tools for understanding tragic moments in history lie in the eyes of the survivors. Visting Assistant Professor of Italian Natasha Chang and the students of her first-year seminar (FYS) took exactly this approach when they and a group of nearly 50 students from the Middlebury College community traveled to Washington, D.C., over Fall Break.

Chang's seminar "Reading Primo Levi" focuses on the Holocaust survivor's nonfiction accounts of his experiences in concentration camps during World War II. Chang thought that a trip to the museum would encourage and facilitate open discussion and thoughtful consideration of the course material in a broader context.

The trip was mainly financed by the Aquinnah Fund, but had a broad range of additional support from FYS funds, Atwater Commons, the Italian Department, Chaplain's Office and Office of Institutional Diversity.

In total, 41 people visited the museum, including a group of students from the Islamic Society and non-seminar students who wanted to see the museum for a second time.

Chang asked her students in particular to write dialogic journals (see boxes below) to record their thoughts.

During the evening after the museum visit, the seminar students attended a dinner at the nearby house of classmate Alex Citrin '07 where they discussed their reactions to the day in the context of their coursework.

Said Chang, "For me, talking to students before and after the trip - hearing their impressions, ideas and opinions - was the most rewarding part of the visit and I hope to keep educating on this topic both in and out of class."