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New York students get While on the trip, student Michelle Daniels said the students
have been able to learn from people who sacrificed for civil rights. "They sacrificed basically their lives just for ... simple
things like sitting on a bus or something," she said. Many of the students said the trip helped them learn personal
details they would never have learned in a classroom. "We've been learning the stuff that's between the lines
of the history books," said Steven Lickstein. The 16 students are taking part in the Civil Rights Connection,
a program that has been taking place for several years under the
leadership of Senator Nancy Larraine Hoffmann. The trip exposes students to the civil rights movement as they
visit communities in the South and speak to residents and participants
in the movement. "The idea is that we want to give these kids an experience
that will show them the relevance of the civil rights movement
and how it relates to their lives today," said Al Nall, communication
director for Hoffmann. The students, who represent nine schools in the Central New
York area, retrace the steps of civil rights workers in the 60s
and 70s stopping at places like Jackson, Memphis, Port Gibson
and Fayette. They also perform service projects on their trip such as volunteering
at the Natchez Children's Home and the Stewpot in Natchez. "We really think that giving to the community is a big
part of this trip," said Tom Bennett, a social studies teacher
traveling with the group. "If they get a sense of helping the community, that's
kind of what we're looking for." They also want the students to understand that civil rights
workers volunteered for various projects while in the South. "We don't give than a vacation. We actually give them
a real experience and we want them to reflect on that and (to)
understand that," Nall said. Student Adrienne Wilson said people did not talk about the
civil rights movement in New York so "I wanted to come down
south and see what they had to say about it." Jareau Hall said the trip made the civil rights movement seem
"more real" to him. "I wanted to experience how Mississippi was today - how
it had changed from back then," Hall said. The group will left Natchez on Thursday for Jackson. The students will end their trip by participating in a parade
Sunday for the Medgar Evers Homecoming in Bassfield and attend
a blues concert organized and headlined by blues artist B.B. King
who is expected to talk with the students.
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