Honoring Resilience: Learning from the Holocaust, Dakota Exile, and Minnesota Tribal Nations

Date: August 4-8, 2026

Location: Plymouth, Minnesota

About the 2026 Program

Participants will deepen their knowledge and confidence in how to teach about the Holocaust, Minnesota’s Tribal Nations, and human rights through engaging speakers, meaningful field trips, primary sources, and reflective dialogue. The seminar explores the Holocaust, the Dakota Exile, and Indian Boarding Schools, highlighting the resilience of Jewish and Indigenous peoples.

2026 Program Benefits

  • Experience immersive field trips to significant Indigenous sites
  • Gain insight into Indigenous foodways and cultural revitalization
  • Learn about the history, religion, and culture of the Jewish people and attend a synagogue Sabbath service
  • Hear powerful Holocaust family testimony
  • Earn 60 Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
  • Earn 2-3 Graduate credits from St. Cloud State University

In partnership with St. Cloud State University, Mount Zion Temple, and Jewish Community Relations Council.

       

What Teachers Said About our 2025 Program

Shelly Vedbraaten grew up in a predominantly white Scandinavian small town. She was first exposed to systemic discrimination when she attended college and made friends of various religions, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. “[They] faced harsh discrimination in my small town,” Shelly explained.

“My experiences and their stories have fueled my commitment to justice and human dignity.”

Shelly has been a teacher for 30 years. Academically, she has pursued studies in Holocaust literature, civil rights, and other genocides. Her 10th grade English class spends much of their fourth quarter on the Holocaust and, in her Language Arts classes, Shelly uses various novels to teach Holocaust literature and civil rights units. “We want our students to be ready to embrace the future as culturally competent individuals, understanding the past and fundamental issues of today.”

Shelly attended our Minnesota seminar because she believes every individual has a responsibility to break the cycles of social injustice. “It is important to continue to teach about the past injustices, so we do not repeat them. This is especially important in the United States and rural Minnesota today,” she says. “It starts with us.”

Leaders

  • Anne McCarney

    Anne McCarney has over 15 years of experience as a high school teacher. Anne began teaching through the PLACE Corps teacher service program in Los Angeles where she taught at Verbum Dei, a Cristo Rey Network school, and earned her Master’s in Secondary Education at Loyola Marymount University. She then taught English for grades 10-12 in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and St. Cloud with a focus on social justice issues and educational equity. To support her work as a Holocaust and social justice educator, Anne completed the TOLI Summer Seminar in 2018 and TOLI leadership institute in 2019 as well as the Bearing Witness teacher education programs in Washington DC in 2014 and Israel in 2016. Anne currently works in Learning & Development with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe’s Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures.

  • Kathy Robinson

    Kathy has been an educator at both St Cloud Technical and Community College since 2012. She teaches Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Sociology and classes in the Human Relations and Multicultural Departments. In recognition of her excellence, Kathy was awarded the Outstanding Impact Award at St. Cloud Technical and Community College in 2022.  Kathy received her Master’s Degree in Social Responsibility from St Cloud State University.  Before becoming an educator, she worked with homeless teens in Minneapolis and juvenile felons in a corrections/treatment facility. Kathy attended TOLI’s Minnesota Regional Seminar in 2017, the 2018 TOLI Summer Seminar in New York City, and TOLI’s Leadership Institute in 2019.