Middle School Teacher Receives Holocaust Education Fellowship

Plainfield IL

22 July, 2021

12:50 PM

Description

PLAINFIELD, IL — A social studies teacher at John F. Kennedy Middle School is one of 25 educators to be named an Alfred Lerner Fellow by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous. Margaret Berry is one of the educators from 12 states to receive the coveted fellowship, where she participated in a virtual, intensive five-day course in June, Plainfield School District 202 announced in a news release Thursday. "It was an excellent opportunity for me to expand my knowledge and learn from world-renown Holocaust scholars," Berry said in a statement. The fellowship program, which began after JFR lost its founding chairman, Alfred Lerner, in 2002, is a tribute to Lerner's interest in Holocaust education. To date, there have been more than 650 Alfred Lerner Fellows from across the U.S. and Europe who are well-grounded in the Holocaust's history and the subject of resue, according to JFR's website. During the five-day course, Berry said the fellows heard from people who teach law and Russian and Soviet history, among others. She said they also learned extensively about immigration. She said she's eager to share what she learned with her students. "JFR highlights the rescuers," said Berry, who was nominated for the program by the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, where she serves as on the Educator Advisory Committee. "They made a choice to hide people at the risk of their own lives. I think bringing the stories of the rescuers into the classroom is going to be huge." (For more news and information like this, subscribe to the Plainfield Patch for free. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here. Don't forget to like us on Facebook!)