Mobile Museum of Tolerance visits Joliet

Professional Development Alliance in Joliet invited local students to experience its messages

The Mobile Museum of Tolerance came to the Professional Development Alliance in Joliet on June 16 and June 17.

Students from Will, Grundy and Kendall Counties were invited to come out to the alliance and learn about tolerance through the museum experience, according to a news release from the alliance.

“To watch the students’ faces light up as they entered the bus was very special,” Hallie Brenczewski, the alliance’s director of programs and operations said in a news release. “Giving them an opportunity to learn lessons of acceptance and love through the past struggles of others is a true gift.”

The museum travels all over the U.S. so Brenczewski said she felt fortunate it could spend two days at the alliance.

Students learned about tolerance through sound, video, discussions that museum facilitator Elizabeth Blair guided.

According to the museum’s website, the purpose of the Mobile Museum of Tolerance is to “inspire people of all ages and backgrounds, empowering them to raise their voices and combat anti-Semitism, bullying, racism, hate, and intolerance and to promote human dignity.”

The Mobile Museum of Tolerance can be brought to local schools at no charge for the remainder of this summer and the 2021-2022 school year, Brenczewski said.

Educators can select the topics they wish their students to experience.

Available topics include The Anne Frank Story, Civil Rights, The Power of Ordinary People, Lessons and Legacy of the Holocaust and Combat Hate!.

To schedule a museum visit and for more information, visit mmot.com or by call 312-981-0105.