Students in Amy Robinette's sophomore English class at Community Christian School in Wilson last week participated in The Butterfly Project, an initiative sponsored by the Holocaust Museum of Houston.

The project's goal is to collect 1.5 million butterflies made by school students throughout the country for a planned exhibition to commemorate the 1.5 million children who died during the Holocaust.

For Robinette's students, the project was the culmination of a Holocaust teaching unit. The students read "Night," an autobiography by Elie Wisel about his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp. The students also read a poem, "I Never Saw Another Butterfly," by Pavel Friedmann. Friedmann, who died in Germany at the Auschwitz concentration camp, was one of several Jewish children who left behind works of art and poetry at the Terezin concentration camp. Their works are collected in an anthology with the same title as Friedmann's poem.

Robinette's students also discussed in groups other poems from the anthology and created butterflies based on their readings. Construction paper, pipe cleaners and glitter were among the different tools students used to make the butterflies.

"Participating in The Butterfly Project helped me to understand the devastation these children experienced during the Holocaust," said sophomore Meredith Batten. "It is nice to know that I was able to be a small part of a nationwide exhibit to honor them."