Paperclips Project Speech

Standing on the pavement leading to the railcar that carried thousand of Jews to concentration camps during the Holocaust, I took a few deep breaths. I realized the speech I was about to give was the chance of a lifetime. I was excited, but my palms were sweaty. I heard my name and butterflies formed in my stomach as I walked up to the microphone. I looked up and there were hundreds of eyes staring at me. I took a huge breath then, I introduced the official Paperclips Project song.
The Paperclips Project began when Whitwell Middle School in Tennessee decided they needed to teach their students about tolerance. They chose to teach about the Holocaust. Students couldn’t conceptualize the number six million -- the amount of Jews that were killed

The story of what happened in Whitwell was made into a major motion picture that I watched at my synagogue when I was younger. A few years later I met Sandra Roberts and some of her students when I traveled to Israel in tenth grade with my synagogue along with Sandra and three of her students. Then I traveled to Whitwell with my synagogue. After that, Sandy offered me the opportunity to speak in front of the rail car.
The Children’s Holocaust Museum was created by Whitwell Middle School a few years after the Paperclips Project began. When Sandy heard my 14-year-old brother playing the piano and singing, she asked him, if he would write a song for the Children’s Holocaust Museum. Then, she asked me to write a speech about Whitwell, and to introduce my brother’s song in front of the Whitwell community and member of my synagogue.
The chance to make a speech in front of hundreds of people made me feel a part of the Whitwell community. I have made many speeches before, including at my Bat Mitzvah. This speech I made in Whitwell was different because I was speaking about a song that was going to be well known throughout Whitwell. I’m proud, that I had the chance to speak about The Paperclips