Play founders receive international attention
By Jason Silvers | Fort Scott Tribune

FORT SCOTT — Two visitors from the Far East paid a visit to the Lowell Milken Center on Tuesday.

Representatives of the Tokyo, Japan-based Fuji Television Network, Inc., were in town Tuesday at the educational center to interview center officials and founders of the student-driven "Life in a Jar" project, which tells the story of Polish heroine Irena Sendler, a social worker who saved more than 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.

The two men, with television cameras and other equipment in tow, also taped footage of the Lowell Milken Center that will be combined with interview footage to produce a news story about Sendler for the popular Japanese TV show, "Unbelievable." The hour-long program is scheduled to air in Japan around Dec. 25, according to Yoshiperu Murakami, the coordinator for the project.

"It features a bunch of stories that are unique and inspirational and deal with unsung heroes, much like this one (Sendler project)," Murakami, also known as Minchi, said of the "Unbelievable" program.

Murakami and his associate, Toshiyuki Soen, filmed interviews with Megan Felt, the program director at the Lowell Milken Center and one of the original founders of the "Life in a Jar" project; and Norm Conard, the director of the Lowell Milken Center and former Uniontown High School teacher who directed students in the Sendler project.

Sendler, who died in May at the age of 98, was the basis for a history project and dramatic stage play designed by Felt, who portrayed Sendler in the play, and other Uniontown students in 1999. The "Life in a Jar" project, which is now a featured project at the Lowell Milken Center, has since garnered national and worldwide recognition and acclaim, and brought the once-reclusive Sendler into the limelight. The play is still performed around the world by current Uniontown students.

Murakami said after Fuji Television Network officials discovered Sendler's story and the "Life in a Jar" project, he immediately began contacting the Lowell Milken Center about producing a possible news story for the network about Sendler, the "Life in a Jar" project, and students who created the project.

"We did our research," he said. "We're always looking for stories and we wanted to do this one."

Conard said he continues to be amazed by the amount of attention Sendler's story draws around the world, even after her death several months ago.

"She's passed on, but her story continues," Conard said.

Conard added that he is proud of his former students for creating a project that has caused such a lasting effect on so many people.

"Certainly the idea of Irena's legacy continues because of these young people," he said. "The awareness continues to grow -- it's all part of a beautiful, inspirational story."

Last year, Sendler was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her heroic efforts that took place more than 60 years ago. The "Life in a Jar" project follows Sendler's motto of Tikkun Olam, a Jewish phrase meaning "to repair the world."

This is not the first time Sendler's story has drawn the attention of a major television network. In February 2007, an NBC "Today Show" production crew visited Uniontown High School to meet Conard and members of the "Life in a Jar" project, and to film a news story about the project that aired in March that year.

The Lowell Milken Center is a non-profit foundation designed to help students and teachers around the world choose and develop ideas for educational projects that deal with relevant social issues.

Fuji TV is the Japanese equivalent of the NBC television network in the United States, Murakami said.