Clark Chronicle

Humanities students Getty-ing an inside look

Friday, June 08, 2012 By Meleeneh Hairapetian

(June 8, 2012) -- Clark seniors had meaningful and memorable experiences on their two Humanities field trips their sophomore year: The J. Paul Getty Museum for students who had Chris and Jennifer Davis, and the Museum of Tolerance for those who had Diana McGrath and Loretta Ngo. “We picked the J. Paul Getty Museum as a place to take the sophomores because wanted our students to realize that LA is a really rich city full of cultural opportunities,” teacher Chris Davis “Students going to the J. Paul Getty Museum got to see artifacts from the French Revolution arranged based on actual rooms which existed at that time.” Narine Vartanian said she was most impressed by the furniture and artifacts from that time period. “There were full rooms that were furnished in Victorian style with beautiful fabrics and gold trimmings. They looked really cool,” Vartanian said. Students could go from room to room looking at the elegant arrangements of furniture accented with elaborate patterns and intricate clocks. “The rooms were impressive because everything was in its original place,” said Maria Kakhvedjian. “They showed us pictures of the actual rooms and they looked exactly like the rooms they had made.” Along with the artifacts in the museum, students also enjoyed the gardens outside. Students used the opportunity to capture some memories from the gardens during their trip. “The garden at the entrance was so beautiful! My friends and I took tons of pictures there,” said Kakhvedjian. Students going to the Museum of Tolerance focused on a more serious subject. “We read Elie Wiesel’s Night, so it was a very appropriate field trip for the book,” said Diana McGrath. “The museum is not just about acceptance for races, but it’s about acceptance of women as well. There was even a small portion on the Armenian Genocide, and I was excited to see that.” Museum attendees go through the selection process which occurred during the Holocaust. They move from the initial entrance where they are separated and sorted into lines to simulate a tangible experience of the Holocaust for the viewer. “I remember my mom was a chaperone and I had to be separated and it was a surreal moment,” said Kayla Stepanian. The experience impacted some students greatly. The museum shows visitors a list of children who were victims of the Holocaust. At the end of the journey through the Holocaust exhibit, visitors get to see which of the children survived, and which ones passed away. “We each got to choose a child from the list, and we got a card for the child. At the end we got to see if our child lived or died,” said Emily Nieto. “That really hit me the most. It was really sad to hear that mine died.” Students thought the museum was both moving and informative. “I liked the museum a lot. My favorite part was where they showed the actual propaganda posters that they used at the time,” said Narek Vardumyan. “I got to see how Jews were shown to society and how they were treated.”