Hanover students turn school into a pop-up genocide museum

Whippany Park High School held their “Voices from the Dark” Genocide Studies Gallery Walk Thursday night. Students from both Hanover Park High School and Whippany Park High School took part in the extension of the district’s Genocide Studies class, which first entered the curriculum in fall 2011.

A semester-long course, the class is available to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Kyle Kirst teaches the course at Hanover Park High School, and Brady Mahar at Whippany Park High School.

Hanover Park District Supervisor of Instruction Chris Kelly said the genocide studies class is in high demand at the high schools. “I could probably run a full teacher on just this class.”

Mahar designed the curriculum himself after he was told administration was seeking new electives. “It’s dark subject matter, easy to stay away from, but it’s become my reason to come to work every day,” he said, adding the class isn’t designed to shock and awe students. “It’s a space for students to talk about these issues, to make connections that mean something. We want to take the irrational and try to make it rational. “

He said he teaches his classes the stages of genocide construct a pyramid, with the first step being bullying that can happen in high school hallways.

“Then rights get taken away, and the higher you go the more violent it becomes,” Mahar said. “We have examples in the world right now of every step of this pyramid except the very top. It’s not just history, not as distant as some might think. “

Mahar said a goal of the class is to connect the past events to the student’s lives. “Racism, homophobia, these discriminations are alive today. And they’re how it starts. “

For the gallery, students from the various Genocide Studies classes put together different elements based on major genocidal acts in world history, from the Holocaust to Darfur.