Area Students Connect With Anne Frank at SCSU [VIDEO]

ST. CLOUD -- An exhibit chronicling the life and times of Anne Frank is visiting St. Cloud State University this month.

"Reading and Writing with Anne Frank" has been brought to SCSU's Miller Learning Center from the Anne Frank Center in New York.

For the remainder of the month, the exhibit is free and open to the public, as well as area junior high school students.

"There are approximately 900 students coming through -- all of them [are] 8th graders," says Professor Dan Wildeson of SCSU's Holocaust and Genocide Education Center. "The energy level and excitement is going up, so it's great to have them here."

The exhibit features a timeline of Anne Frank's family and life, juxtaposed with the events contributing to the rise of the Nazi regime.

Student groups from various junior highs including North and South, Kennedy, and Sauk Rapids-Rice will be able to form a perspective on the Holocaust, as well as connecting with Anne Frank through the art of writing.

"The very last [part] asks students to respond to that desire to write," Wildeson says. "We have a feedback opportunity for people to talk about how they will take this story and use it in their lives to make the world a better place.

"I've actually had two or three conversations with individual students about their encounters with this exhibit and they learned new things -- it's definitely worth it already that we brought this exhibit."

The exhibit will move to the Great River Regional Library in February to coordinate with the debut of GREAT Theatre's production of The Diary of Anne Frank (January 29th through February 7th).