Join us May 14 for an evening of reflection, learning, and community at Pasadena High School
What does it mean to build empathy across generations? For the past three years, Pasadena Unified School District students and educators have been exploring this question through a powerful interdisciplinary project that examines the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II—and draws connections to civil rights struggles today.
We invite you to experience the culmination of this work at the Building Empathy Exhibition and Reading on Wednesday, May 14, from 4:30 – 6:00 p.m. at Pasadena High School’s Abel Franco Theater. This special event will showcase student-created visual art, essays, poetry, comics, podcasts, and more. Guests will receive a printed anthology and be among the first to preview a new documentary created by KLRN that captures the story of the project.
RSVP’s are appreciated but not required: email pef@pased.org
About the Project
Launched through a California Civil Liberties grant from the California State Library and expanded with support from California Humanities, the Building Empathy project has engaged:
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More than 1,000 students and teachers participated in field trips to the Japanese American National Museum and explored Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo and its history
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Over 10 educators were trained in teaching about Executive Order 9066 and its legacy
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15 students and 8 teachers and staff who took a two-day research trip to Manzanar
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8 high school students led middle school classes in a unique peer-to-peer model teaching them about the Japanese American community’s struggles during WWII
Through their work, students have not only deepened their understanding of history, but also created original content that includes interviews with family members, speeches in Spanish, recreated World War II-era camp newspapers, and more.
The Pasadena Educational Foundation is proud to support this project and to have created a dedicated website to share its resources and student work with a broader audience.
This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
We hope you’ll join us to honor the stories, creativity, and powerful learning of PUSD students and educators who continue to illuminate the past while building a more empathetic future.
