HMH Bearing Witness - December 2017

EDUCAT ION

EDUCAT ION

HMH's work with partners continues to be very important to our community outreach. Holocaust Museum Houston and the Education Department will present two of our landmark programs to educators attending the 2017 HAP Conference with the important theme of Better Together: Building Community Through the Arts in 2018. We are excited to continue our relationship with Houston Arts Partners, where our outreach last year was important in introducing the Educator in Motion program. This year, Dr. Mary Lee Webeck will serve on the Conferences Programming Committee. Working with Community Partners – 2017–2018 Houston Arts Partners Conference

L to R: Holocaust Studies teacher Jerrilyn Miller, of Monsignor Kelly Catholic High School, Dr. Anna Steinberger and her daughter Pauline Solnik

The HMH Education Department had an extraordinary year working with the Engines of Change Student Ambassadors group. In April 2017, the Ambassadors joined the Houston community at the Yom HaShoah commemoration where one of their number, Derrick Wall, was honored with the annual Yom HaShoah scholarship, presented to a student who has exemplified behaviors to stop the dangers of hatred, prejudice and apathy in his or her school or community. In October, we entered the program’s second year with a group of new and returning students from across Houston selected to be Ambassadors for the 2017-2018 school year. During the Holocaust Museum Houston (HMH) Max M. Kaplan Summer Institute held July 11-14, 2017, Holocaust Studies teacher Jerrilyn Miller, of Monsignor Kelly Catholic High School, received the inaugural Drs. Emil and Anna Steinberger Award in honor of Dr. Anna Steinberger and in memory of Dr. Emil Steinberger. This award is given to a professional educator that has participated in numerous HMH trainings and fellowships, and has a track record for engaging students in Holocaust studies both on their campus and at Holocaust Museum Houston. The recipient must display passion for imparting the lessons of the Holocaust and model the philosophy that one person’s life can indeed make a difference in the lives of others. Drs. Emil and Anna Steinberger Award Engines of Change Student Ambassador Program Update

We Welcome Our Newest Member to the Education Team Wendy Warren joins us as Senior Associate Director of Education at Holocaust Museum Houston. She earned her M.Ed. from the University of Houston and has been an educator for twenty years. Prior to joining the museum, she taught a variety of social studies courses and held leadership positions at the campus and school district level. Additionally, she developed and implemented the first Holocaust and Genocide Studies course in Alief ISD. Wendy has worked with educators in other Alief schools and other districts as they have followed her model and implemented a course based on Wendy’s design. Wendy and her students also created an Upstanders Club at Hastings High School to promote social justice and community involvement. This year, Wendy will be teaching a course for 11th graders at Kehillah High. She is passionate about working with teens to support their development of empathy, inclusiveness, and active citizenship. Originally from New York, Wendy has made Houston her home. She enjoys reading, traveling and spending time with her husband, four children and two dogs.

L to R: Wendy Warren, Michelle Tovar, Laurie Garcia and Dr. Mary Lee Webeck

ecently the Education Team at Holocaust Museum Houston gave our attention to describing what we do and why. R Meet the Education Team

These are exciting times. This Fall, the Latino Initiatives Advisory Committee kicks off its second year with goals focused on community outreach and education. Through collaborations with local leadership and activists, the committee hopes to provide a lens into Latina/o issues affecting Houston and in a global context through a Civil Liberties Panel in spring 2018. In correlation with the Human Rights Art Exhibition, we are also looking forward to hosting a lecture series that will concentrate on generational trauma. Middle and High School students from East End Houston will benefit from an upcoming education project that will provide an inclusive space for literacy interactions, learning about financial literacy, social justice activism and the arts. Students will have an opportunity to share their own stories and also learn the importance of using their voice as upstanders in the community. Spanish Outreach and Latin American Initiatives

The Education Team We create resources fostered in historical and cultural accuracy We shake things up, and activate people around ideas that matter

We advocate for social justice, inclusiveness, individual and societal responsibility We teach facts and ideas. We ask questions that may not have one answer. We curate civil discourse, caring, hope and empathy We hope for and work toward a peaceful and just future We reverently remember those who suffered and in their memory, we shine light from darkness . . .

Education Team Members

Laurie Garcia – Education Outreach Coordinator I am a Dismantler of Apathy and an Activator of Global Citizens

Michelle Tovar – Associate Director of Education, Spanish Outreach and Latin American Initiatives I am a Chicana and Chingona advocate for students of color. I use privilege to speak up, not for, unheard voices in the community. Beneath a collective of James Baldwin, Dolores Huerta, and Howard Zinn lie the indigenous roots of my heart, which beats for social justice. Wendy Warren – Senior Associate Director of Education I am an instructional innovator - committed to inclusiveness, and dedicated to doing small great things. Dr. Mary Lee Webeck – Director of Education I am a lover of language, ideas and art who studies history to find within it ways to engage learners. I discover ways to help dreams come to life. I believe in citizenship and socially conscious, respectful activism. I am an impassioned educator of people of many ages and differences.

Michelle Tovar continues to work with institutions in Latin America in efforts to establish partnerships for the 2020 Latin American Conference. The bilingual Spanish/English conference is in the planning stages with programming on Holocaust Education, Genocide, human rights issues (in Guatemala, in Pinochet’s Chile, and the atrocities in Argentina). Educators from Latin America and around the United States will explore a narrative that is uncommon, while making connections to contemporary issues.

HMH Education staff with Derrick Wall, Yom HaShoah Scholarship winner 2017. Laurie Garcia, Michelle Tovar, Derrick Wall, Dr. Mary Lee Webeck and Emily Sample.

Michelle Tovar in Chile, Summer 2017

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