Posted: February 2, 2026 3:09 pm
“Let me be myself and then I am satisfied,” Anne Frank wrote in her diary on 11 April 1944. By that time, she had been in hiding in Amsterdam for almost two years as World War II raged on.
‘Let Me Be Myself’: The Story of Anne Frank is a traveling museum exhibit coming to the Heritage Discovery Center in Johnstown from March-June. More about this exhibit will be posted later — but now we are inviting interested students, grades 9-12, to be trained and act as peer educators/docents for this exhibit, with a training coming up from Feb. 14-15. Outreach to find interested students has included contacting school officials, including superintendents and principals from a wide range of school districts.
About the exhibit
Let Me Be Myself is from The Anne Frank Center at the University of South Carolina, and the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance and Heritage Johnstown are partnering to present it at the Heritage Discovery Center, which is located at 7th Avenue & Broad Street in the Cambria City neighborhood of Johnstown. It combines Anne Frank’s personal story with broader historical context and contemporary issues, tracing her life from Frankfurt through hiding in the Secret Annex in the Netherlands, the rise of Nazism, and her death, while connecting themes like identity, discrimination, and belonging to young people’s lives today. Heritage Johnstown will supplement the exhibit with World War II materials from our archives and collections, providing a local angle on the World War II story.
Why peer docents are important
As the Anne Frank Center has explained, student participation is an integral part of the experience, as docents/peer educators as well as visitors. Serving as a docent is a remarkable opportunity for local students to engage with the story in an incredibly meaningful way while gaining valuable leadership experience!
We are coordinating with the Center for a two-day student docent training to be held at the Heritage Discovery Center from February 14-15. Training will be from 9am to 4pm both Saturday and Sunday; attendance at both sessions is mandatory. The guide training is an interactive two days which includes group discussion, video testimony, working with photographs, designing their own tour, and practice time. There will also be time to discuss the logistics of giving and planning for tours. You can find a 4-minute overview video below:
Once trained, these peer educators will be asked to volunteer to guide visitors through the exhibit. When we have an exact roster of trained docents, we will work with them to establish their availability and volunteer schedule. We will potentially remain open one evening per week during the run of the exhibit and will have weekend hours to accommodate their school schedules.
How students can participate
Please contact Deb Winterscheidt with any questions you may have about the student docent program or to indicate interest, and we’ll be in touch!
