ADAPT

USHMM Butterfly Project

USHMM Butterfly Project poster

The ADAPT club at Arkansas School For Math Science and the Arts in Hot Springs has participated in the USHMM Butterfly Project and the activity was a great success. About 60 kids came and made about 88 butterflies, which they are sending to the Holocaust Museum Houston. The kids had foreign foods and drinks and music and art supplies provided by the ADAPT club. Click here to view the montage poster that the drawing/composition teacher made after photographing the butterflies that kids made last week.

For more information on the butterfly project can be found at Holocaust Museum Houston's website.

What is A.D.A.P.T.?

The USC Shoah Foundation Institute established A.D.A.P.T. in 2005. A.D.A.P.T. is a student-run organization sponsored by the USC Shoah Foundation Institute and dedicated to the respect, acceptance, and appreciation of the diversity of all cultures. Participants will strive to attain a deeper understanding of others and to create a more tolerant environment by sponsoring activities that celebrate diversity, promoting education about other cultures, and encouraging participation in service work that helps inter-cultural relationships in the community.

Membership in A.D.A.P.T. is voluntary and open to all students attending any middle school or high school that has an established chapter. Participants must be committed to the principles of the club and should exemplify its values in their everyday life. With the guidance and leadership of their advisors, students will plan their own cultural awareness activities. These activities might include presentations that teach about various cultures, campaigns to promote social awareness, field trips to diverse cultural institutions, local visual history projects, school-wide and community-wide outreach programs, and hosting visits by a variety of speakers to speak on the issues of diversity and tolerance.

Inspired by these activities, students will be empowered to promote understanding, respect, acceptance, and tolerance among others. It is the hope of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute that A.D.A.P.T. will become more than just a club; it will help to define the actions, behaviors, and ideologies of its participants.

Who sponsors A.D.A.P.T.?

Each chapter of A.D.A.P.T. is independently organized and maintained by local school administration and volunteer advisors in cooperation with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute.

A.D.A.P.T. began as a result of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute's Testimony to Tolerance Initiative. The Initiative consists of three phases. In the first phase, the USC Shoah Foundation Institute partners with a local, public institution (usually a public library) and provides them with a Visual History Collection of first-person visual history testimonies. In Little Rock, the USC Shoah Foundation Institute has partnered with the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), which maintains a collection of 24 visual history testimonies.

In Phase II, the USC Shoah Foundation Institute conducts an on-site workshop for local educators on how to create their own classroom materials using their local collection. In the final phase, educators who attended the on-site workshop are encouraged to establish an A.D.A.P.T. chapter in their school. In this way, the Initiative engages stakeholders in the community: the general public, the educators, and the next generation — the students.

Please note that a school does not have to be a participant in the Testimony to Tolerance Initiative in order to establish an A.D.A.P.T. chapter at their school. A.D.A.P.T. is open to all middle and high schools nationwide interested in establishing a chapter.