Cultivating Social Responsibility: Lessons from the Holocaust and the Rich Soil of the Central Valley of California
Applications for the 2023 seminar are now open!
The Fresno Satellite Seminar, Cultivating Social Responsibility: Lessons from the Holocaust and the Rich Soil of the Central Valley of California, focuses on the social role of resistance in its many forms. Educators leave the seminar with resources to develop curriculum around the Holocaust and to extend that learning to issues that directly affect the lives of their students. By connecting past to present, knowledge gained from Holocaust studies leads participants to consider how Japanese Internment and the Armenian Genocide continue to impact life in central California. The seminar’s goal is for students to recognize discrimination’s common threads, including policy that serves to limit or even paralyze the “other.”
Throughout the week, reading and writing activities allow participants, and later their students, to process information gained from local speakers as we strive to minimize the distance between the concepts of “us” and the “other.” As educators gain tools to help their students recognize discrimination and effect change, education becomes a form of resistance when needed, and an act of advocacy, always.
Further Details:
- Participant stipends: $200
- Books, materials, and entrance fees provided
- Meals: Breakfasts and Lunches provided
- Professional development units: 2 units for $200 through Fresno State
- Field experiences: Fresno Assembly Center Memorial at Fresno Fairgrounds
- Out-ot-town participants: Housing recommendations available upon request
Click here to view our 2023 flyer
Leaders
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Hilary Levine
Hilary Levine taught elementary school students in the Fresno Unified School District in Fresno, CA for 25 years. She currently leads professional development seminars while also teaching a Holocaust class at the local high school. Hilary’s passion is Holocaust education, having completed her Masters’ degree in Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Gratz College in 2021. With Tosha Tillotson, she is the co-founder of Avenues for Change: Holocaust and Genocide Education, a joint venture aimed at supporting teachers in the state of California with high quality Holocaust education.
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Tosha Tillotson
Tosha Tillotson is completing her twenty-second year in education. She has taught social studies in grades 6-12 and was a principal of a K-8th grade school. She has an MA in Education from Chapman University and currently serves as an Associate Superintendent for the Diocese of Sacramento. Tosha has been actively engaged with various Holocaust organizations including USHMM, TOLI, and the Vladka Meed Teacher’s Resistance Group. She also served as the Director of Education for CVHEN for five years and was a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Regional Education Corps. In 2021, both Hilary and Tosha formed Avenues for Change: Holocaust and Genocide Education, bringing best practices in Holocaust education to teachers in CA.
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