Thank you to our Summer Interns!
Last summer, Friends of Minidoka launched its first-ever high school internship program. Three students from One Stone school in Boise, Idaho, participated in our pilot. During the school year, the students heard about the proposed Lava Ridge wind project and wanted to learn more about Minidoka and the Japanese American incarceration story. They created their own course of study called the “Deep Dive” and contacted Friends of Minidoka. Their continued interest in Minidoka led to summer internships where they learned about primary and secondary research with Camille Daw, our graduate Fellow. In addition to visiting Minidoka National Historic Site and assisting with our 80th Anniversary event on June 13, the interns visited Boise State University’s Albertsons Library’s Special Collections with Camille and Cheryl Oestreicher, BSU Professor and Head of Special Archives, to learn about the documents and photographs in the Robert C. Sims Collection.
Additionally, Minidoka National Historic Park hires college summer interns through Northwest Youth Corps to assist in the Visitors Center and provide tours. Minidoka NHS’ successful program is several years old and hosted two college interns again last summer.
We are pleased to highlight the voices of young people through our interns’ research, articles, and reflections on Minidoka in our Hi-Lites Youth Voice, named after the historic high school Hunt Hi-Lites newsletter.
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Historic Hunt Hi-Lites Newsletter
During World War II, Hunt High School published “Hunt Hi-lites.” Incarcerated high school students, much like students across the country, wrote, edited, and produced articles on a variety of topics related to their educational experiences. Much unlike other students, youth at Minidoka remained behind barbed wire, and wrote on topics such as the make-shift ice rink, struggles with the massive quantities of mud that stuck to shoes, socks, and other clothing, and the ongoing Minoru Yasui Supreme Court Case.