Holocaust Awareness and How Students are Making a Change
by Max Sultz, Sophomore, iPreparatory Academy & Nina Jansens, Sophomore, iPreparatory Academy
by Max Sultz, Sophomore, iPreparatory Academy & Nina Jansens, Sophomore, iPreparatory Academy
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As the world has seen an uptick in hate crimes, it has never become more important to learn about the origins of prejudice so that we may never forget the atrocities of the past, only to repeat them in the future. We, Nina Janssens & Max Sultz, Holocaust Memorial Ambassadors (HMA’s) of iPrep Academy, with assistance from teachers Mr. Sultz and Ms. Keller, have taken upon ourselves the responsibility of educating the 9th and 10th graders of our school, bringing genocide awareness to the classroom.
Nominated as the schools’ HMA’s for the 2021-2022 school year, we were educated alongside other first year HMAs in a series of trainings by our mentor Jack Rosenbaum from the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach. These trainings consisted of an educational phase where we learned about the origins of hate, a developmental phase where we learned how to share an impactful message on humanity and resilience, and a discussion phase where we listened and asked questions to Holocaust survivors on their experiences throughout their three lives, before, during, and after the Holocaust. In order to spread information to our peers, we introduced Holocaust education to the Freshman World History Classes and the Sophomore AP Psychology Class involving the participation from all grade levels in the process through Project Based Learning. |
Nina Janssens and Max Sultz at the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach
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Social Psychology Intro + AP Psychology Application:
While Holocaust education is essential in World History during the study of events from the 20th century, our choice to integrate this education into AP Psychology may sound strange. Applying the knowledge of Social Psychology, studied extensively throughout this course, serves as a vehicle to explain patterns found in human attitudes such as prejudice and its resulting behaviors, such as discrimination. Unsurprisingly, the origins of this domain stem from post-WWll psychologists in an attempt to explain how such a genocide could ever occur, the annihilation of 6 million Jews from 1939-1945. |
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Student Awareness Field Trip Purpose/Overview: On March 31st, 2022, the AP Psychology class attended the Student Awareness Day at the Roz & Cal Kovens Center of FIU North. While classroom activities may be beneficial in helping students understand the contents of the Holocaust, the conference played a film about the effect on children of the Holocaust during the war. After the 45-minute documentary, students were assigned to rooms with either a first or second generation Holocaust survivor. iPrep students and peers from other schools listened to the tale of their speaker, which continued with a discussion giving students the opportunity to gain more insight on survivor’s experiences and how they could possibly endure the suffering and the survivor’s guilt that followed. |
iPrep Students and Holocaust Survivors at Miami-Dade County Student Awareness Day
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Article posted by Miami Herald, describing student’s experiences of Student Awareness Day at Roz & Kal Covens Center on March 31, 2022
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Students, however, were not the only ones who spoke. Howard Finkelstein, Broward County’s Public Defender and star of podcast Help Me Howard! delivered a powerful speech addressing the hate rooted throughout humanity, bestowing the responsibility of ridding it to the younger generation, us. A reporter for the Miami Herald even interviewed a fellow classmate of ours, Isabela Cristino, asking about her experience with her assigned survivor.
Once returned from their field trip, students from the AP Psychology class, with the roll of ambassadors, were assigned to tell students who didn’t go about their experience using their filled out KWL sheet. Students who didn’t go listened to the experiences of the psychology ambassadors, noting important things they learned. While we were limited by funding and a cap on participants per school, we were determined to expose the entire 10th grade to as much Holocaust and Genocide Education as possible. |
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While organizing this field trip for the sophomores, we were also determined to expose the freshman to genocide awareness as well, wanting them to dive deeper. iPrep Freshman, through Mr. Sultz’s World History classes, participated in the 2021 Jean & Jules Kluger Annual Visual Arts & Writing Contest by submitting an essay or an art piece response.
Participants of this competition were asked:”What was the most important lesson they learned from the Holocaust and why?” After a panel adjudication of all 9th grade submissions with the assistance of iPrep’s brilliant Juniors and Seniors: Samantha Peltrau, Javier Gomez, Samantha Oyon, Esteban Sanit, and Pia Rugel, freshman Cecilia Ise, Jenna Davila, Stanislas Dubernard, Jada Cox, Camila Mejia, Barbara Sanki, Florencia Galotti, Gabriella de Souza, Ariela Chacon-Bederso, and Dafne Porri were chosen as finalists. After an extensive process of revision, all finalists sent their perfected pieces to the competition representing iPrep. Results of the winners are expected to be announced in June of 2022. |
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Exhibit Submissions:
Below are some of our favorite quotes from our finalist essays as well as art submissions:
Below are some of our favorite quotes from our finalist essays as well as art submissions:
- “Learning about the Holocaust contributes to the idea of assisting those in need. Being aware of what is going on around the world encourages humans to help the victims of a conflict.” - Cecilia Ise
- “Although evil and hatred, in general, cannot be stopped by just one person, people can come together to end it”. - Jenna Davila
- “ It is up to us to carry on the mantle of responsibility left behind in order to prevent state sanctioned hate leading to such an act against humanity from ever happening again”. - Stanislas Dubernard
- “As we move forward in this world we must learn from our past to become better mankind”. - Jada Cox
- “We can't change the past, but we can make a difference in the future, and that is something that will stick with me” - Camila Mejia
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“The most important lesson one can learn about the Holocaust is, not only the Holocaust itself, but it’s effects today and the generational trauma”. - Barbara Sanki
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“This drawing represents the massacre and the reality experienced by Jewish families as well as those who were not considered to be of Aryan lineage”. - Florencia Galotti
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“Just because people try to silence Jewish people on the Holocaust doesn’t mean the Holocaust didn’t happen”- Gabriella De Souza
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“This drawing is meant to show the confusion and fear that Jewish children/ teens had when the Holocaust began. - Ariela Chacon-Bederso
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“Even though people say they have changed, you can’t just forget about all the prejudice and hate they agreed to” - Dafne Porri
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We have made great strides in spreading Holocaust awareness at iPrep, yet there is still plenty of room to grow. As both of us are transferring to SAS to pursue further endeavors, we will be passing on ambassadorship to qualified freshmen who we hope will do great things, inspiring everyone within their reach to be aware.
Source:
“How the Holocaust created a new field of science: the Science of Evil.” BBC Radio 4. BBC, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4B9rmwvZwQN45rckdzQKxp2/how-the-holocaust-created-a-new-field-of-science-the-science-of-evil#:~:text=Archive%20on%204%3A%20The%20Science,a%20new%20science%20%2D%20social%20psychology.
“How the Holocaust created a new field of science: the Science of Evil.” BBC Radio 4. BBC, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4B9rmwvZwQN45rckdzQKxp2/how-the-holocaust-created-a-new-field-of-science-the-science-of-evil#:~:text=Archive%20on%204%3A%20The%20Science,a%20new%20science%20%2D%20social%20psychology.
