Lippers and Flippers

I believe I have spoken on here about the Lipper Internship, the Museum's internship for college students and that I myself was a Lipper in 2004. (There are a couple former Lippers on staff. We call ourselves "Flippers".) This incredible program brings a fresh batch of interns into the MJH family two times a year. The Fall class is currently on day four of their intensive 10-day training to learn how to teach the Museum's Core Exhibition to middle- and high-school students. Speaking from experience, this is an exciting, exhausting, and emotional time. The combination of reading, discussions, films, lectures, gallery tours, presentations, and hearing survivor testimony creates an educational experience unlike any other.

Today, I had the opportunity to work with this group in the second floor galleries. Each intern took a minute or so to acquaint her/himself with an artifact s/he had never seen before and presented it to the rest of the group (posing as students) in order to illustrate the themes represented by the object, such as Jewish self-reliance after the Nuremberg Laws or the Kindertransports. It was so impressive to see how the interns were able to intelligently and uniquely present these items with so little prep time. Their enthusiasm and quick thinking served them well. As they were taught, they asked a lot of questions of the group "What do we see here?" "Why do you think this person wanted to bring this with them?" "How is this different from the artifact we just looked at?" "What would you do if you were no longer allowed to go to school." At the end of training, these students will bring their lessons and expertise to high schoolers from all over the Northeast. After seeing what the Lippers are capable of after just four days, I know they will be incredible ambassadors of MJH wherever they go.

(Pictured: Roy Ben-Moshe and Jessica McCarthy engage in Lipper-ly discussion during a rare break.)