The Waterdown Museum of Hope is gearing up for its biggest year yet.
The student-run museum on the First and Second World Wars opens on Nov. 6. This year, the museum’s theme is the Liberation of the Netherlands and the End of the Second World War, said Waterdown District High School teacher Rob Flosman. This day is also know as Victory in Europe Day, or VE Day.
“It’s our big finale,” Flosman said.
The Museum of Hope has been a project over a decade in the making, from its beginning in 2013. Flosman said the finale coincides with the 80th anniversary of VE-Day.
Grade 11 student Tamara Robichaud is working on a project about her great-grandfather, Earl Baxter Coulson, who served for Canada for the entirety of the war.
"He was 24 years old when he walked from Burlington to Toronto to enlist," she said.
Her great-grandfather had been a mailman in Burlington before the war, and his old mailbag, his beret from the Legion he attended and a beret from his time in service will be part of this November's exhibit.
Robichaud said looking into her family's past has helped her better understand her great-grandfather, and the effect the war had on service members.
"He served the whole war. I feel like he would have had to put everything else aside and focus on that, and I feel like he definitely lost himself," she said.
Mr. Flosman set to retire
This year is another kind of finale for the Museum of Hope.
It is Flosman’s final year teaching history at Waterdown District High School, as he retires next June. Some of his students said they had to make sure they took his class again before he leaves.
“I was really excited to take his class again, because he's retiring and he's a good storyteller,” said one of Flosman’s students, Daegan Moorse.
With Flosman's move into retirement, the WDHS community will have to say goodbye to an award-winning educator.
Last year the Museum of Hope took home the 2023/2024 'Heritage Group, Society or Specialty Team Award', from the Hamilton Municipal Heritage Committee, and previously Flosman had been awarded the Governor General's Award for teaching philosophy and the Sharon Enkin Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education.
The Museum of Hope has also brought esteemed guests to Waterdown, like last year's visit from Ontario Lieutenant-Governor Edith Dumont.
Before he leaves, Flosman is working on setting the Museum of Hope up with the equipment it needs to keep going.
On Wednesday (Oct. 23), city council will consider a request for funding be approved from the Ward 15 Non-Property Tax Revenue Account to fund a new display case for the museum.
The case costs around $6,000, and will allow the Museum of Hope to expand its collection. The cases at the Museum of Hope are displayed year-round at the Waterdown Legion, and are able to be moved from the walls to create a more immersive experience during Remembrance Day ceremonies and during the museum's showcase in June.
"Some kids can't always learn in a class environment. They need hands on, they need to see what they're learning. They need to experience it and they need to project it to other people," Flosman said.
The Museum of Hope opens from Nov. 6 to Nov. 8, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., on Sat. Nov. 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and on Remembrance Day on Nov. 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
