JAY, Maine — 6th graders at Spruce Mountain Middle School are talking about the Holocaust. That's some heavy conversation for 11 and 12 years olds but it's also extremely necessary. "I definitely wanted to tackle it. I think it's important, I teach a lot of things on tolerance and diversity... The kids were excited to learn about it... I wasn't afraid of making kids uncomfortable because I think it's ok to do that and this is an uncomfortable topic" said Mariah Sergio who's teaching about the topic.
Mrs. Sergio's class watched the award winning documentary 'Paper Clips' about a school in Tennessee that collected 6-million paper clips in an effort to not let Holocaust victims be forgotten. This class made up of kids from Livermore Falls and Jay wanted to do the same.
"They came back to me an hour later and said we want to erase Hitler's mistakes... we want to collect 6 million erasers... I am like alright, let's get started...... said Sergio.
Cecilia Pike is one of the 6th graders working on the project which is done by the kids after school and on their own time.
"Most people cant imagine what 6-million people look like... so having a visual of something on a smaller scale helps people realize just how catastrophic the Holocaust was" said Pike.
In less than a week, the kids have collected more than 1500 erasers.