News : Cold War Museum: VSHS students study cause, effects of several aspects

Fallout shelters.

Bomb Shelters.

McCarthyism.

The Space Race

NATO.

Progaganda.

The impact of America's fear of war on education and women's issues.

Anyone born before 1980 remembers seeing news items about these, and living in the fear that the Cold War could turn into a Nuclear Winter.

But the high school students of Kelly Steffen -- born after the Berlin Wall came down -- grew up not knowing how those issues -- and fears -- were a constant, and often daily, part of American life.

So to help those students understand those issues, Mrs. Steffen led them in creating a miniature "Cold War Museum" in the VSHS library.

The students each chose a specific topic of the cold war, and created a display, which teachers and other area citizens were asked to judge.

The students, said Mrs. Steffen, were asked to focus on the causes and effects of the issue or person they chose to explore. On Tuesday, the teachers and adult visitors discussed the topics with the students, and shared their memories of living through the events that current students can only learn now from history books and conversations with those who remember those days.

"After students picked a topic of interest for their Cold War exhibit they then were challenged to create a display that was visually appealing and brought to life a number of curricular requirements," said Steffen. "In addition to demonstrating the causes and effects of their topic, they also had to include at least one primary source and analysis of that source, the timeframe of their event, and language/terms associated with their topic. Their other challenge would be interacting with the public once the museum was open." The day following the "public showing" the students went to see their classmates' displays so that their knowledge of the Cold War would not be limited to their own research. The judges gave the highest score to the Education and Propaganda display created by Jenna Lane. "A few weeks ago we did this same project in my American History classes," says Steffen. "The class featured in this event is an elective class called 'American Humanities' co-taught by Le Cox and myself. It is a blend of language arts and American history."