Students and staff from CHSD170's Washington-McKinley School recently visited the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center courtesy of an Opportunity Scholarship provided by the Museum.
The $1,000 subsidy covered the cost of transportation and admission to the museum.
"We were thrilled to learn that the Holocaust Museum and Education Center had awarded a grant to our school," said Washington-McKinley Principal Gretchen Sutherland.
"I am particularly grateful to Ken Hanson who applied for the grant which permitted our entire 8th-grade graduating class, and students from the REACH and STEM programs to visit the magnificent museum."
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is committed to supporting students and the remarkable teachers who work with them. It provides students with the opportunity to observe, question, investigate, and communicate as they deepen their understanding of the Holocaust and genocide throughout the world.
As the museum's literature states, "Learning happens here - learning through the exploration of our exhibits, and through the conversations, your students will have with you, their fellow students, our staff, and volunteers."
A highlight of the visit to the museum for the students was the opportunity to meet and hear from Lisl Bogart, a survivor of Terezin, a concentration camp established by the Nazi SS during World War II in (at that time) German-occupied Czechoslovakia.
From Bogart, students learned first-hand of the atrocities and horrors that occurred while she was interred in the camp.
"I recognize that Ms. Lisl made a tremendous impression on our students," Sutherland said, "and I know that they are most thankful to have had the opportunity to experience the museum and its ongoing commitment to keep the history of the Holocaust relevant to students in the 21st Century."
School field trips to the Museum offer students hands-on learning experiences for understanding the power of a single voice. Opportunity Scholarships ensure that all schools, regardless of resources, can provide this experience for their students. The Museum reaches 12,000-15,000 students and chaperones per year through Opportunity Scholarships.
Because today's young people are likely the last generation to hear Holocaust Survivors recount their stories first hand, capturing and preserving those stories has become an educational and moral imperative. Illinois Holocaust Museum will be the first in the world to use three-dimensional technology to tell Survivor stories in an incredibly life-like way when it opens its Take a Stand Center in October 2017. Visit www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/commit-to-the-future for more information.
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center honors the victims of the Holocaust and transforms history into current, relevant, and universal lessons in humanity. Through world-class exhibitions and programs, the Museum inspires individuals and organizations and provides a universal wake-up call to action: Take history to heart. Take a stand for humanity. The Museum is open daily from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. and Thursday evenings until 8:00 p.m. Learn more at www.ilholocaustmuseum.org. Follow the Museum on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.