Enhancing Holocaust Education Across Florida
Since 2014, Nova Southeastern University has partnered with the Holocaust Learning and Education Fund Inc. to bring Holocaust education into classrooms in a creative and engaging way. History textbooks can expose students to the dates, places, and atrocities of the Holocaust. But only the testimonies of survivors can share the personal and human perspective. Their stories explore universal and timeless lessons on forgiveness, perseverance, kindness, and equality.
Participating teachers meet the State of Florida education mandate. Prizes for the winners have included up to $1000 per student plus additional monies awarded to their teachers and schools, all-expense paid chaperoned trips to Washington, D.C.'s historical sites including the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, private tours of the Craig and Barbra Weiner Holocaust Museum, meetings with Holocaust survivors, and an annual awards ceremony and reception on the NSU campus.
I encourage my students every year to participate in this contest because it provides an opportunity for authentic engagement in history and an opportunity to show how history is a living document with impacts on their lives. My students gained knowledge of the Holocaust but also how it affects them on a personal level and influences them for the future.
Amanda Mathis | Instructor, AP English Language and Composition Instructor
Each Year the Contest Receives
Holocaust Learning and Education Fund, Inc.
The Holocaust Learning and Education Fund, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation formed by Craig and Barbara Weiner in 2013 for the express purpose of broadening Holocaust education amongst America's students. It is the ultimate goal of the founders of this program to see this form of education expanded through many other states in order to teach America's students how intolerance of others can lead to the destruction of our social fabric, while patience and understanding of others will always result in a safer and better world for all to live in.
The Craig and Barbra Weiner Holocaust Museum is located at Nova Southeastern University's Alvin Sherman Library.
Nova Southeastern University
A dynamic, private research university, NSU is providing high-quality educational and research programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree levels. Established in 1964, the university includes 14 colleges, the 215,000-square-foot Center for Collaborative Research, the private PK1-12 grade University School, the world-class NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, and the Alvin Sherman Library, Research and Information Technology Center, one of Florida’s largest public libraries. NSU students learn at our campuses in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Miramar, Orlando, Palm Beach, and Tampa, Florida, as well as San Juan, Puerto Rico, and online globally. With more than 200,000 alumni across the globe, the reach of the NSU community is worldwide. Classified as having “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, NSU is one of only 59 universities nationwide to also be awarded Carnegie’s Community Engagement Classification, and is also the largest private institution in the United States that meets the U.S. Department of Education’s criteria as a Hispanic-serving Institution.
