Brooklyn Connections is made possible by a generous grant from The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund, with additional support provided by New York Life Foundation and Tiger Baron Foundation.

2. “This program made my love of history grow. Brooklyn
history is important because most of my classmates live
in Brooklyn, but don’t know much of its history. We
aren’t taught Brooklyn history in class.”
-Keyshawn, Hellenic Classical

3. Each student in the Brooklyn
Connections program is
expected to complete a
research project on a
Brooklyn topic. Students
begin the year by looking for
interesting topics that could
be researched within the
Collection. For most, this
means working with original
primary sources for the first
time.

4. Participants are given full
access to the Brooklyn Collection
during and after school. At
home and in school, they use
their research to create papers,
displays and presentations.

5. This year, students at MS 136
used a packet of documents to tell
the story of immigration and
industry in their neighborhood of
Sunset Park.

6. Charlie expressed what
he had learned about
the neighborhood
through original
cartoon characters.
“When I recently moved here I had
many questions about the community.
Now because of this project I know that
Sunset Park is a great community.”

7. Charlie’s classmate
Jeanise created fictional
diary entries written
from the perspective of a
recently arrived
immigrant in 1950.

9. At Hellenic Classical Charter
school, students broke into
groups to study how the Civil
War changed life in Brooklyn.
“I learned about the many ways
Brooklyn contributed to the
Civil War. My favorite
document was the letter from the
soldier to his sister because it
explains what was going on
around him.”
-Steven

10. “I studied a lot
about Walt
Whitman. I
learned that
Brooklyn had a
newspaper called
the Brooklyn
Eagle and that
Walt Whitman
was a writer
for it.”
-Alex
“This project gave me the opportunity to learn something new. It
helped young kids like me learn about our heritage.” -Uneeq

11. Students at IS 162 were asked
to find topics in Brooklyn
history that also fit into the
National History Day theme:
Innovation in History. Diana,
Angie, Stephanie and Karina
focused on the ground-breaking
work of Brooklyn artist Jean-
Michel Basquiat.

12. “That one man from Brooklyn changed so many people’s views on
Graffiti in the art world is amazing. We enjoyed this project
because we went to different places to learn more and more about our
topic.”

13. Students at Hudde Junior High researched critical themes in the 7th
grade curriculum on both a national and local scale. The American
Revolution group was invited to present their work on stage at our End-
of-Year Celebration.

14. “This is where we live
now. Why not learn
about what happened
in this place before we
were born?” -Melina
“I enjoyed working on
the presentation. I
enjoyed being very
creative while
working.” -Samantha

15. Brooklyn Connections is made possible by a generous grant from The
Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund, with additional support provided
by New York Life Foundation and Tiger Baron Foundation.