Pocantico Hills CSD

The pictures are alarming, thin and frail children, wearing what amounts to rags that were displayed on posters around the room. However, a closer look also tells the inspiring tale of how these individuals were assisted and went on to thrive.

Each year sixth graders at Pocantico engage in a weeks-long research project where they delve into the Armenian refugee crisis in the early part of the last century and its aftermath. The class visits the nearby Rockefeller Archive Center where part of their research included looking and studying primary sources, including letters and newspaper articles. They not only wrote a research paper on what they learned but also created a website that they could share information.

“It’s pretty inspiring,” said Sona Viola, Director and Curator at the Near East Relief Historical Society, that visited Pocantico on May 14 when students had a public display of their work. “Working with the historical information, they really mastered that at a young age. And the empathy they had was impressive.”

“It’s beautiful to hear their perspective and how it impacted them,” she said. “I am really proud of them.”

Students studied the humanitarian crisis, and their research led them to learn about what happened in its aftermath. Using primary sources, including letters and newspaper articles, students gained more extensive knowledge about events.

The Armenian Genocide resulted in the estimated death of between 600,000 and more than a million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The Near East Relief Foundation was established in 1915 to aid the humanitarian crisis suffered by the Armenian people.

“It was challenging making a website,” admitted Ayan K. about the project. “It was like putting a puzzle together.”

As to the subject, “it was interesting to learn about,” they said.

“I didn’t know anything about the topic at all,” Savannah B. said. “It’s fun to learn about a new topic, the genocide was so traumatic.”