News : Interactive displays help make Cold War more real to VSHS students

Cold War Museum: Veteran Denny Miller discusses the Cuban Missile Crisis with four VSHS students.

Kelly Steffen said she used to have trouble finding a way to make the Cold War unit something her students could get excited about. Then she came up with the idea of having her students make displays for a small museum.

Students, either as individuals or in groups, chose particular aspects of the Cold War Years: The Berlin Wall. Propaganda. The Space Race. The Cuban Missile Crisis. Pop Culture.

This, says the teacher, helped them make more personal the stories that their parents and grandparents lived through, and which they can only learn from in history books.

Brittney Bathke points to a small replica of a poster in the propaganda display she worked with classmate Cole Overton on compiling and creating. The poster depicts what Americans imagined life could be like if the Soviet Union carried through on its threats to conquer America. That poster, she said, helped make real the threat that many Americans felt.

Four young men – Bruce Authier, Jake Carlson, Cole Tharp and Tyler Hekel – dressed in suits while presenting their display to the staff and members of the public who visited the library on Wednesday. They had created computerized displays to go along with their display boards, and answered questions about things they had studied concerning the missile bays, the U2 photographs and the public and secret negotiations that took place between the Kennedy Administration and Moscow during that nervous October of 1962. Those who judged the displays gave the four the highest score.

Particpants in Wednesday’s event included: Expectations of Women-Tailynn Tharp, Hannah Kimm, and Alyssa Clark; The Environment-Asa VanFossen and William Sunlin; Pop Culture-Evan Sampson; Propaganda-Brittney Bathke, Cole Overton, Seth Lazenby, Cuban Missile Crisis-Bruce Authier, Jake Carlson, Cole Tharp, Tyler Hekel; Space Race-Erin Wood, Rhianna Turner; Bomb Shelters-Daniella Aquirre, Morgan Schaapveld; Iranian Hostage Crisis-Connie Upmeyer, Jenna Jeffery, Kaitlyn Goodell; Berlin Wall-Lilliana Pizana, Ben Ross.