EAGAN, Minn. — Visiting a museum often breathes life into history.

That's exactly what happened for a group of students from Minneapolis high schools who visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture last month, doing so as part of a trip to Washington, D.C., hosted by the Minnesota Vikings, Project Success and Tradehome Shoes.

Bella Haugstad, a young woman of color and student at Southwest High School, noted the impact of touring the museum and furthering her understanding of the African American experience.

"We've learned throughout years at school all of the atrocities that have happened in and outside of America involving African Americans, and going there and seeing it, really immersing myself in it, I learned so much more about the history and culture," Haugstad said. "I walked by myself for a little bit, and then I sat down and just really thought through everything, what I had seen throughout the day.

"Being able to really sit with it and think about what that [looked like], to actually have to go through all of it, it was very, very difficult," she added. "But I'm so grateful we were able to do that, and I feel like it was a key moment of the trip."

Students were joined on the special trip by Vikings teammates Levi Drake Rodriguez, Walter Rouse and Elijah Williams. Rouse, a Maryland native, had been to the museum multiple times growing up, but it was a first-time visit for Rodriguez and Williams.

Williams expressed sentiments similar to Haugstad's, noting the number of things he hadn't previously been aware of.

"There was a lot of information there, and honestly, you can't get through it all in one day," he said. "I tried to read everything, and everyone found something they didn't know had happened, and that really stuck with them. We had breakout sessions after visiting the museum, and those conversations were really eye-opening to me. I definitely loved that aspect of the trip."

The mission of Project Success has always been to inspire young people to dream about their future, help them take steps to achieve those goals and provide them experiences that help them gain tools to be used throughout their life.

Project Success Founder and Executive Director Adrienne Diercks exudes passion and deep care for the program and the students she works with, and each year she excitedly anticipates the D.C. trip with the Vikings and Tradehome.

"Someone recently asked me what Project Success was and how we started, and I always say Project Success started with a question: What if every young person, starting when they're 11, could ask themselves over and over through middle and high school, 'Who am I? What's out there in the world, and what do I want to do in that world?' And that's Project Success — connecting students to their purpose," she explained.

The trip is especially meaningful each year due to its proximity to Juneteenth, a federal holiday that honors June 19, 1865 — the day Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, with news of freedom for enslaved African Americans, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation executive order.

Diercks values each part of the weekend, which also includes a visit to Howard University, an HBCU (Historically Black College or University) school, as well as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Sumaiyah Reeves (Minneapolis Edison) described the experience as tremendously inspiring.

"Seeing so many Black people graduating, receiving either their bachelor's, master's or even doctorates, that's something not a lot of people can accomplish," Reeves reflected. "But to see so many Black people accomplish that, it inspired me because I don't really see that in my day-to-day, attending a majority white school.

"I was very blessed to be there and meet so many people and see all the students wearing [honor] cords," she continued. "Everyone looked like they were on their Ps and Qs, doing the things they have to do, and it inspired me to keep pushing toward what I want to do."

Before touring the Holocaust Memorial Museum, students were surprised and honored to meet with Vikings Owner/President Mark Wilf and his son Andrew.

Mark Wilf spoke with the group for a significant amount of time, not only encouraging them in their endeavors but describing the deep-seeded and personal connection he and his family have to the horrific Holocaust experience.

He explained his mother was born in Lvov, Poland (now located in Ukraine), where 180,000 Jewish people lived. She and her family were among very few from the city who survived the "Holocaust by bullets," a reference to mass shootings of Jews.

Wilf pointed to his grandmother Miriam as "the hero of my life." Because she spoke fluent Ukrainian and didn't "look so Jewish," she was able to obtain papers saying she was part of the Russian Army.

"The American Army liberated all these places … and they got to go to the United States; they came to Birmingham, Alabama, and the Jewish community there sponsored them," Wilf detailed. "If it wasn't for my grandparents, my grandmother, and what she did, I would not be here today. We wouldn't have been able to come to the United States. We wouldn't be alive, and we would be [similar to the] stories as you go through the museum. My family's is just one story of millions you're going to learn about today."

Wilf encouraged the young people, "You can do a lot as one person. You can do a lot with what you learn, what you see."

"Whatever you're seeing this weekend, you're a witness to history because it happened. Many people say all this stuff didn't happen or they downplay it. What happened to African Americans? What happened to Jews? What happened to other people groups?" Wilf said. "If there's injustice, you've got to speak up. Silence and indifference are tremendous, tremendous problems. When you see something wrong, you've got to speak up — and you have the power to do that."

Diercks called it "incredibly special and important" to be joined by Mark and Andrew.

Williams also noted the impact of hearing from Wilf and learning more about what his family went through.

"It shows us that we're not so far off from these events; they're still more closely connected than we may think," Williams said. "It's not that many generations ago these groups of people experienced this trauma, this level of hardship. We've got to use it as a way to come together, because we know everyone goes through struggles — and seeing that his family was directly affected through it, it's extremely humbling."

Reeves said Wilf's talk helped her feel "even more connected" to everyone else in the room.

She also noted it's easy to assume that successful individuals haven't experienced profound struggle or wouldn't be so authentic in sharing.

"For him to be so open really changed my perspective in a lot of ways," Reeves said. "It made me realize that at the end of the day, we're all people — and we can all come together and form a bond with each other."

Each year, one of the exhibits at the Holocaust Museum that especially draws in and sobers students is a display of 4,000 pairs of shoes of concentration camp victims. On permanent loan from the State Museum at Majdanek in Poland, the massive installation visually represents the incomprehensible scale of the genocide.

Reeves called the museum exploration heartbreaking.

"It also helps you feel so much empathy for other people. I was just happy I got to go through the museum and educate myself even more when it came to the Holocaust — because when you learn about this stuff in school, you only see stuff to a certain extent."

The museum visits, university tour and time spent with Mark and Andrew Wilf were immensely special on their own.

But Project Success always offers an additional surprise to students, courtesy of Tradehome Shoes. During a dinner with the group, the young people were caught off guard when they received a brand new pair of Air Force 1s, socks, a backpack and — the highlight of the evening — a $1,000 scholarship to be used toward postsecondary education expenses.

High school junior Jordan Johns described his excitement:

"It was super surprising," he said. "I see the socks, the shoes, the backpack and I'm like, 'OK, this is really nice.' And then they come in with the scholarship. Now I'm really stoked. I wasn't even close to expecting that.

"My mom was stoked about it, too," Johns added with a smile.

Tradehome Vice President of Store Personnel Mark Jacobson presented the scholarships and observed the genuine gratitude from each student.

"You would think we're giving them a million dollars," he said "What that means to them, [to be able] to put it toward anything that they want to do in terms of their future career, whether it's getting themselves a new computer, whether it's going into the trades, whatever their dreams are, they could be dreaming about starting their own business and they can use that, too, and it means so much to them. You see the smiles on their faces, and it ends up being an indescribable moment because they're not expecting it, and it's a huge gift … getting to see them open it and see their reaction is a lot of fun."

Haugstad emphasized the impact of being seen and recognized in such a tangible way.

"Obviously going to college requires a large sum of money for any family, and knowing I have an extra thousand dollars to put toward college takes away another little bit of stress," she said. "I'm very grateful to Tradehome Shoes for giving us that and giving us this opportunity."

As the group departed D.C. for the Twin Cities, it's clear new friendships were established and a deeper understanding of our nation's history had been engrained.

"It was a great experience," Williams said. "All the kids, they were so great and didn't take this opportunity for granted. They were attentive, really were open to learning, and it was so great to connect with them. They were amazing."