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HIGHTSTOWN: Origami good will

Hightstown High School students create paper cranes for Japanese relief

By Doug Carman, Staff Writer
   HIGHTSTOWN — Every dark cloud has a silver lining, but at Hightstown High School, several are adorned with colorful origami cranes.
   The project, led by science teacher Franco Paoletti and the Philosophy Club, is more than an artistic statement from the students.
   It’s a fundraising drive to raise money for relief from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that derailed Japan.
   And it’s hard to miss. The display partially covers a large window pane surrounding the school’s main entryway. Each crane is folded for a $1 pledge and sold at the cafeteria during lunch periods, Mr. Paoletti said. Students can purchase pre-designed cranes or fold their own. Students are asked to sign the cranes, and then attach them to the paper clouds.
   The club hopes to sell 1,001 paper cranes through its efforts. A donation will then be sent to the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund. Additionally, the cranes will be sent to Japan once the project is complete.
   Dr. Paoletti said the cranes symbolize a Hiroshima survivor’s fight against cancer. Sadako Sasaki, who was 2 when the atomic bomb fell upon Hiroshima, developed Leukemia in 1955.
   According to the story, a friend told Sadako that anyone who folds 1,000 paper cranes would be granted a wish. She folded more than 1,000 cranes before succumbing to cancer at the age of 12.
   ”When I heard about this idea, I thought it would be really good to help Japan bring a wish,” freshman Doriane Feinstein said. “With the myth, if you write a wish on the last one, the wish will come true.”
   ”I had never heard of the Sadako story,” freshman Emily Finn said. But after hearing of it, “I was completely for it,” she added.
   Ben Benson, a sophomore, said they lost count of the number of cranes folded so far. He estimated at least 300, though Dr. Paoletti believes more than 500 were folded, including boxes of them that haven’t been put on the window yet.
   Dr. Paoletti said he has a bit of a personal connection to the project. In 2005, he visited Japan with about 200 teachers through the Memorial Fund’s Teacher Program. While there, he taught several classes and attended workshops to study the Japanese educational system.
   ”Some (people) that I actually met were involved with this disaster,” Dr. Paoletti said, referring to the March earthquake.
   The students plan to continue folding the cranes until finals begin. Emily said she’ll probably go beyond that, as she recalled a recent event while sitting in her room at home.
   ”I look down at my hands and they’re going, ‘nieeh,’” she said, making a folding motion, “and I’m folding air.”