A Fort Worth teenager is working to connect her classmates to a difficult chapter in our history.
On the campus of Fort Worth Country Day, senior Grace Goldman is watching her vision take root.
For the last few weeks she's been working to plant a field of daffodils to honor children who died during the Holocaust.
"It's beyond my time period and in a different country, but the fact that it happened and I know it happened, it's mind-boggling," Grace said.
Her garden is part of a world-wide movement called the "Daffodil Project" to recognize the 1.5 million children who perished during the Holocaust.
"Being actually able to fathom what happened is a little hard, so this gives a very physical reputation of just the numbers of people that died. So that was another important part for me — just being able to see it," Grace said.
For Grace, the project is personal.
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Her great-grandmother, Blanche Pikkel, survived Auschwitz concentration camp by being sent to work in the factory.
"In Auschwitz, it was these quick little decisions about whether you lived or died, and because a guard saw her hand, he thought she would be good at screwing in munitions. So instead of being sent to the gas chambers where most women were sent, she was sent in to the factory," Grace said.
The story of her great-grandmother's survival has stayed with Grace, and she's hopeful the garden's future blooms will be a powerful symbol of remembrance and resilience.
"It's important that we recognize that and acknowledge that this is a beautiful way to do so," Grace said.
The garden will be incorporated as part of the curriculum when students at Country Day learn about World War II and the Holocaust.
