We won the Morris Weiss Award!
PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The 2017 Morris Weiss Award ceremony occurred today, and was awarded three "outstanding teachers in the greater Bay Area $1,000 for professional development and an additional grant of $1,500 to their schools to be spent on resources, events, or other programs related to Holocaust education." The award comes from the San Francisco Jewish Family and Children's Services' Holocaust Center, who educate, document, research, and remember of the Holocaust.
Iris had the opportunity to speak. Following are some of her remarks at the ceremony.
- The inspiration for my project was a memory of a small exhibit I attended at my elementary school In Israel in 6th grade. For me this was such a significant introduction to the Holocaust that when I became principal of Congregation Beth David’s religious school in 2005 I thought perhaps I could give my students a similar experience. And since then I’ve been putting up an ever growing exhibit which is now up for 2-3 weeks around Yom HaShoah at Congregation Beth David in Saratoga.
- Through different multimedia stations, students become acquainted with the events of the Holocaust, stories of resistance and of local Holocaust survivors. They also explore questions of genocide and Holocaust denial today.
- Soon there will be no first hand witnesses to the Holocuast, and the goal of my project is for Holocaust education to continue to be close up, personal, and immersive in future years. My dream is that my “living exhibit” continues to grow and I find ways to reach more students throughout the Bay Area.
- Thank you to the Morris Weiss family, Shorenstein family, and Morris Weiss award committee for helping me start to make this dream a reality.