Select juniors and seniors from local high schools had the opportunity to spend a day at John Carroll to learn about the Holocaust and genocide awareness.
On November 14, members of the Exploration of Human Rights, Genocide, and the Pursuit of Justice class and the AP United States History class were joined by 17 other schools to hear from guest speakers and participate in breakout sessions.
Assistant Principal Jake Hollin said, “The idea was that we have been spreading Holocaust and genocide education beyond our school for over 26 years. We really wanted to connect with other local area schools and utilize the resources and give them an opportunity to partake in it as well.”
This is now the eleventh year of the program that is aided by the Baltimore Jewish Council.
The day began with an opening program which included a prayer led by Director of Mission and Ministry Deacon Ken Goedeke and a welcome from Mr. Hollin. Students then presented a Reader’s Theater, and members of the JC chorus performed two songs.
The keynote speaker was Dr. Ellen Kennedy, founder and director of World Without Genocide and adjunct professor at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law. She spoke about her mission to prevent genocide.
“Being informed about the Holocaust from a new and different perspective was fascinating,” said senior Dylan Nagy.
The majority of the day was then spent alternating between small breakout group sessions and a large group speaker.
Ms. Lola Hahn shared her family’s story of the Holocaust with the large group. Her mother and aunts were saved by Oskar Schindler, who is the focus of the movie Schindler’s List. She explained the impact the experience had on her and her family.
The small groups were split between six sessions: “Psychology of Courage,” “Native American Genocide,” “Rescue/Resistance/Reconciliation,” “Rescue Portrayed via JFR Films,” “Poetry Writing in Response to Genocide,” and “Genocide Viewed Through a Social Justice Lens.” Students had the chance to preregister for sessions of interest.
“It was insightful to hear the perspective of Native American individuals and families regarding the genocide they endured,” said junior Kate McCracken.
To end the day, everyone gathered in the auditorium to hear from Ms. Uta Allers, a woman who grew up in Nazi-occupied Germany. She spoke about her life experiences growing up on the perpetrators’ side and explained how to be a bridge builder and upstander in the modern world.
Throughout the day, seniors from the Human Rights class helped guide and welcome guests and speakers.
Emma Bison said, “Spending the day with Uta at Lessons of the Shoah was super inspiring and eye-opening.”
Exploration of Human Rights teacher Darrion Siler commented, “Lessons of the Shoah and events like this are really important because we’ve, since the Holocaust, said ‘Never Again,’ and yet continue to see mass atrocity and genocide being committed. Much like the theme from this year’s Lessons of the Shoah, ‘Courage in the Face of Adversity,’ we have the opportunity to show courage by educating others about what happened in order to make sure that it does not happen again.”
Mr. Hollin expressed “a great measure of appreciation because this year Mrs. Gezcy was not able to be with us, and she did so much work and put so much planning into it, but also so many other people stepped up and were a part of it. I just wanted to show appreciation towards our faculty and staff for helping.”