The Power of a Paper Clip: A Holocaust Study in Rural Appalachia Opens Up the World to Its Students

In the late 1990s, Linda Hooper led a group of inspiring and inspired teachers at Whitwell Middle School in Whitwell, Tennessee as they looked for a special project to bring the wider world to their young students in a small Appalachian town. They hit upon a subject that has confounded people the world over since the 1930s and ‘40s: a study of the Holocaust.

The students themselves found a way to commemorate the millions of souls lost to that tragic period of 20th history. The students decided to collect six million paper clips.

The Power of a Paper Clip tells the how the teachers, students, parents, and townspeople were changed by their efforts—and how their efforts changed the world.