For starters: I'm not Jewish nor do I have any close Jewish friends; my family is 100% Mexican and probably had not come in contact with another culture until they arrived here, in the United States, probably less than 20 years ago. In fact, I had never stepped into a conversation where the other person didn't have my skin color, my culture, nor my familiarities until i stepped into the doors of Walter Payton High School. Some can find it hard to believe, but for me it was normal. In my opinion, this is where the beauty of my high school comes in. The blending of cultures, faces, skin colors, and personalities all come together. It's in this building where all our traits and ideas that would otherwise be called different, conviniently blend to make one culture; a culture creatively crafted to be our own "Payton" culture. Within all of this, we come out with stories of our own such as that of the Holocaust which are important to each of us in different ways.
I know you've probably visited this site to get some answers. Probably to find out why a group of 18 students want to embark on a great journey with two amazing teachers, or to possibly find out what ties we may have with the Holocaust, but most importantly, to realize why this trip is important to us. For me, this trip is important because of culture and history. What the Jewish population underwent during World War I was a tragedy and one that should never be forgotten. But in my opinion it's not only about the Jewish culture and history, it's about that of humanity as a whole. The culture I talked about earlier (as the "Payton" culture) is the one I'm more or less trying to get at. It's not an individual one but a mutual one shared by everyone. In the end, we all have the same feelings of embarrasment, sadness, happiness, and anger. We strive for "better lives" so that our kids and their kids can have a good as a life as we did if not better. This is just the same for those millions of people that lost their lives in the Holocaust. Their stories, hopes, dreams, pains and joys should also be remembered.
There are many reasons why i want to go on this trip. For one, I want to appreciate and acknowledge a part of history important to many of my collegues in a specific manner through their own Jewish culture. I also want to use this trip as a rememberance of what humanity went through at one point in time. I want to remember that they're not just a war in a history book but that they were people with amazing stories of their own. Lastly, I want to take away from this trip something of my own,something unexpected that i will only find while on the trip.

Sincerely,
Violet