English class studies Judaism
Jenna Rice
Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: News
On April 10 at 6 p.m., Dr. Catherine Eskin's two 102-C Service Learning Effective Writing II classes will make a public presentation of their Jewish Archive work in the Hollis Room.
The presentations will be based on the research they have completed about subjects related to Judaism in Lakeland, Flaas well as about small Jewish communities in the South in general. The presentation of all of the students' projects should last about an hour.
The students in this pilot class, taught by Eskin, have researched many concepts, such as Jewish education, death rituals, sports participation and assimilation in Lakeland. They have been hard at work since January to create a Jewish archive collection for Lakeland's Temple Emanuel, a Jewish synagogue.
The 16 students who have persisted in the class have created an extensive archive of scanned photographs and reams of detailed descriptions of the items. They have also heard presentations from local experts on archiving, local histories, special collections, electronic archiving and interviewing techniques.
The students also spoke with local members of the Jewish community, Eskin said, including Wil Wolfson, a 91-year-old native of Lakeland and retired pharmacist; Gerald Rabin, who arrived in 1933 and worked in groves and agricultural appraisal; and Sam Pincus, who found his wife here during World War II when he was stationed near Tampa.
Under the guidance of Eskin, the students have helped sort hundreds of pictures donated by Temple Emanuel and its members. By the end of each student's completion of the class, they will each have given 25 hours of their time (outside of class) to the service project. Some even plan to continue to help to complete the project after the semester comes to an end, Eskin said.
One student in particular, has put many extra hours into the project: William Posey. A junior honors English major, Posey has been compiling a manual for the archive to help direct collection policies, organize individual collections, establish subject terms and create a system that will allow for easy access to the archive's holdings. Posey is taking the class as a directed study with Eskin and spends many hours each week supervising the work of the 102c students as he prepares his own papers and manual.
The presentations will be based on the research they have completed about subjects related to Judaism in Lakeland, Flaas well as about small Jewish communities in the South in general. The presentation of all of the students' projects should last about an hour.
The students in this pilot class, taught by Eskin, have researched many concepts, such as Jewish education, death rituals, sports participation and assimilation in Lakeland. They have been hard at work since January to create a Jewish archive collection for Lakeland's Temple Emanuel, a Jewish synagogue.
The 16 students who have persisted in the class have created an extensive archive of scanned photographs and reams of detailed descriptions of the items. They have also heard presentations from local experts on archiving, local histories, special collections, electronic archiving and interviewing techniques.
The students also spoke with local members of the Jewish community, Eskin said, including Wil Wolfson, a 91-year-old native of Lakeland and retired pharmacist; Gerald Rabin, who arrived in 1933 and worked in groves and agricultural appraisal; and Sam Pincus, who found his wife here during World War II when he was stationed near Tampa.
Under the guidance of Eskin, the students have helped sort hundreds of pictures donated by Temple Emanuel and its members. By the end of each student's completion of the class, they will each have given 25 hours of their time (outside of class) to the service project. Some even plan to continue to help to complete the project after the semester comes to an end, Eskin said.
One student in particular, has put many extra hours into the project: William Posey. A junior honors English major, Posey has been compiling a manual for the archive to help direct collection policies, organize individual collections, establish subject terms and create a system that will allow for easy access to the archive's holdings. Posey is taking the class as a directed study with Eskin and spends many hours each week supervising the work of the 102c students as he prepares his own papers and manual.
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