I wanted to share some good news and a photo with you. The clothing order we purchased from you in early March proved to be a big help in our students National History Day performance and helped them win first place at the state level in Nebraska! They are now on their way to Washington DC in June to compete at the national level.
The students performed a 10 minute piece entitled “The Mennonite Experience in America: Exploration, Encounter and Exchange”. The premise of the project was to show the struggles some Mennonites faced when encountering some other Americans through several decades, especially when upholding their belief in pacifism. They researched numerous books and other sources, interviewed several people with Mennonite churches here in NE and wrote a dialogue. The presentation began with dialogue among a Russian Mennonite family and their concerns with coming to America in the late 1800’s. They followed with the encounters that ensued by some Americans who “mocked” their people once migrating here. They then proceed to a shunning scene to demonstrate that aspect of the conflicts within the church as well. The next scene moved to a conflict and exchange between some Mennonite women and other Americans over WWII and understanding each others viewpoints on pacifism.
The 5 students were awarded a superior rating by the state judges and the judges footnoted that the “costumes” were very appropriate and historically correct and added to the success of the presentation. As part of the competition they have to stand before the judging panel to receive questions regarding any part of their performance, research, topic, scenery, costuming etc. They have performed this for different social groups/competitions now about 8 times and each time someone from the audience/judges asks about the clothing and where they got it, etc. They are so proud to state it came from your website and that it’s “real Mennonite clothing!”.
The neatest part is to hear the kids state to a group that one of the things they enjoyed the most about this whole project was learning more about the Mennonites and their beliefs. They felt that had they not done this project, they would never have looked further into the Mennonite church or even realized that we have several churches in one very small community close to ours. They’ve confessed to having no idea what a “Mennonite” was until they did this project!
So, again, thank you! I’ll drop you a note after the trip to the Capital!
