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Fellows in Focus – August 2021

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Fellows in Focus

Jim Lucot

Where are you from?
Pittsburgh, PA

Where do you teach and what subject do you teach?
I teach Introduction to Holocaust Studies at Butler County Community College.

How did you get involved with the JFR?
I was nominated by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh.

What drew you to the organization and its programming?
The expertise, the access, the contacts, the support and the relationships.

What was the most compelling thing you learned as an Alfred Lerner Fellow?
The introduction and access to the academic learning community that continues to the present day for me.

What is your favorite memory from your participation in JFR programming?
Meeting and developing relationships with Roman Kent, Peter Hayes and Christopher Browning that I have benefitted from throughout my career.

How do you feel the fellowship has impacted your life, both personally and professionally?
I feel that my pursuit of this subject has made me a more tolerant and understanding individual. Professionally, I have completed multiple research studies abroad and completed a masters program in Holocaust and Genocidal Studies which I feel was the continuation of the foundation of my experiences with the JFR.

Anything else you’d like to share with the JFR’s followers and supporters?
I will always be indebted to the generosity and expertise of the programming provided by the JFR and hope to always represent my affiliation to the best of my abilities.

Beth Passner

Where are you from?
I reside in Jamesburg, NJ where I live with my husband and two children.

Where do you teach and what subject do you teach?
I have taught at North Brunswick Township High School (NBTHS) in North Brunswick, NJ for the past 16 years.  I teach World History to freshman and an elective entitled “Dimensions of Prejudice, Genocide and the Holocaust” to juniors and seniors.

How did you get involved with the JFR?
A few years ago, I became the district’s representative for Kean University’s Council for Global Citizenship and Education (formerly known as the Diversity Council). The Council provides education and opportunities for teachers to work to make their schools places that promote tolerance and acceptance. NBTHS’s Council has done an amazing job the past 4 years, winning first place three times for our projects from Kean University. The Holocaust and Genocide Resource Center at Kean University officially nominated me for the Fellows program. It was an honor to be nominated and quite humbling.

What drew you to the organization and its programming?
I was very excited to become an Alfred Lerner Fellow for a number of reasons. One was that I was excited to be a part of an intensive 5 day class where I could learn from some of the greatest historians on the Holocaust. To be able to discuss and ask questions directly to the historians whose books I have read was incredible! I was also excited to be able to meet various teachers from around the country and the world. In New Jersey, we have a Holocaust mandate and our students are required to learn about the Holocaust. In other states, however, they do not have this mandate and I was so impressed to see how teachers in other places taught the Holocaust.

What was the most compelling thing you learned as an Alfred Lerner Fellow?
Strategies for how to humanize the Holocaust for my students from Professor Paul Salmons.  We conducted an exercise where we examined a child’s shoe that was found in Auschwitz and asked questions to discover what we could learn about the child. This activity is something that I have done with my classes since I completed as a fellow that day. When teaching the Holocaust, the humanity of the victims can get lost and I learned from Professor Salmons how to prevent that from happening in the classroom.

What is your favorite memory from your participation in JFR programming?
By far my favorite memory was taking the tour of the Auschwitz Exhibit at the Jewish Heritage Museum led by Robert Jan van Pelt. It was truly amazing to be able to be given a tour directly by the Auschwitz exhibition’s head curator. We learned so many details about the artifacts that I never would have learned had he not been the one leading the tour.

How do you feel the fellowship has impacted your life, both personally and professionally?
The fellowship had a tremendous impact on both my personal and professional life. Professionally, I have taken many things that I have learned from the program and brought them to my classroom. I have taken more time to incorporate actual artifacts into my teaching in order to make the material as humanizing as possible. Additionally, the things I learned from my colleagues around the country had an impact as well. Personally, as a mother of two young boys along with full time teaching, I truly enjoyed the opportunity to go to New York and dedicate 5 days to being a student and not a teacher. It gave me great joy to go back into the classroom and to learn, explore and ask questions.

Anything else you’d like to share with the JFR’s followers and supporters?
I would like to thank them for giving me the opportunity to participate in the program. It truly made a difference in my life and in my teaching of the Holocaust.

Nick Haberman

Where are you from?
Pittsburgh, PA

Where do you teach and what subject do you teach?
Shaler Area High School in Pittsburgh, PA – “Holocaust: Background, Tragedy, and Aftermath” and “Multicultural Studies”

How did you get involved with the JFR?
I was invited to attend the Alfred Lerner Fellowship Program after winning the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh’s “”Holocaust Educator of the Year”” award in 2018

What drew you to the organization and its programming?
Holocaust educators around the country are always talking about the extraordinary teacher trainings and resources of the JFR.

What was the most compelling thing you learned as an Alfred Lerner Fellow?
I learned the significance of the many daily choices that were made by individuals during the Holocaust that led to the global tragedy. The Fellowship humanized the Holocaust more than I had anticipated. 

What is your favorite memory from your participation in JFR programming?
Meeting some of the world’s foremost Holocaust scholars, especially some of the authors who wrote the books I’ve learned from (like Doris Bergen and Peter Hayes), and meeting Roman Kent.

How do you feel the fellowship has impacted your life, both personally and professionally?
Personally, the JFR opened countless doors to new Holocaust content and stories, especially those of the Righteous.  Professionally, the reputation of the JFR and the Alfred Lerner Fellowship helped connect me to many, many more opportunities, including the Museum Teacher Fellowship program at the USHMM (class of 2019).  I will be forever grateful to the JFR and Stanlee Stahl.

Anything else you’d like to share with the JFR’s followers and supporters?
Every Alfred Lerner Fellow I meet says the same thing – there’s simply no Holocaust-related teacher training as rigorous, as professional, as memorable, or as meaningful as the Alfred Lerner Fellowship.  Since the Fellowship, my work has grown out of the classroom across Southwestern Pennsylvania through the LIGHT Education Initiative.  Our mission is to inspire, prepare, and empower students through innovative leadership roles in Holocaust, genocide, and human rights education and advocacy. More info can be found at www.LIGHTinitiative.org

Sandy Lopater

Where are you from?
I am from West Palm Beach, Florida.

Where do you teach and what subject do you teach?
I teach for the School District of Palm Beach County, John I. Leonard High School. I teach a one semester course called Holocaust Studies, a program I started at my school.

How did you get involved with the JFR?
I was given the opportunity to attend the Lerner program by our past District Holocaust Planner, Maureen Carter. I have since attended the Lerner Fellows program and the Advanced Summer Program.

What drew you to the organization and its programming?
I was drawn to the program based on conversations with Maureen Carter, who truly extolled the quality of this program.

What was the most compelling thing you learned as an Alfred Lerner Fellow?
There really was no single item to pick out in the programming. The entire program was filled with some of the best Holocaust scholars and educators, and I learned so much from each of the presenters. I was especially drawn to the program on the medical experiments of the Nazis, as I knew little about that issue.

What is your favorite memory from your participation in JFR programming?
My favorite memory is actually the camaraderie of working with some very fine educators from across the country. I have developed strong friendships that remain even today.

How do you feel the fellowship has impacted your life, both personally and professionally?
The JFR’s Lerner Fellows program has greatly increased my knowledge of the Holocaust, which in turn has enabled me to deliver more content to my students. It has also increased my ability to teach the subject, which helps to increase my student’s knowledge in this topic area.

Anything else you’d like to share with the JFR’s followers and supporters?
I am greatly appreciative of the opportunity to attend the Summer Institute for Teachers, and the Advanced Seminar, and look forward to a relationship with the JFR and with Stanlee for years to come.

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