Angela serves as both librarian and teacher at Lone Jack High School in Lone Jack, Missouri. She teaches 11th grade English and History of the Holocaust for 10th – 12th grade students, a course she developed. Angela was the organizing force behind the effort to take all Lone Jack middle and high school students to see “Auschwitz: Not long ago. Not far away.” when the exhibit visited Union Station in Kansas City. She incorporates MCHE’s Second Generation Speakers’ Bureau and survivor testimony in her instruction because she stands by Elie Wiesel’s adage that, “To hear a witness is to become a witness.” Angela selects primary source documents and non-fiction texts that provide students with ideas to think about deeply. And her students consistently participate–and perform well–in the White Rose Research Contest. In fact, four of Angela’s students were White Rose finalists this year–one was the upper division essay winner!

In addition to the excellent Holocaust instruction Angela provides for her students, she is committed to her own education. She tackled a graduate level Holocaust history course while an undergraduate student and is a frequent participant in MCHE’s professional development programs. She became an Alfred Lerner Fellow with Jewish Foundation for the Righteous in 2016 and returned to JFR for an advanced seminar in 2017. Angela was one of four educators from the Kansas City area invited to visit Poland in 2022 as a “memory ambassador” with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation. We are delighted that she has agreed to join MCHE’s Isak Federman Holocaust Teaching Cadre.

Angela gave a powerful acceptance speech that concluded with these words:

“In closing, I would like to leave you with the final remarks that I share with the students in my History of the Holocaust class on our last day together. I think they are fitting for all of the wonderful, talented students that are in this very room. I always say,

‘Remember what you have seen and heard and learned. It is our privilege to remember for the generations that will never be. It is our duty to remember for the generations that were destroyed. Speak up for what is right. Don’t let anyone marginalize you or any other person. Love your fellow men. Be kind and help others. When given the choice between hatred and kindness, choose love.’ 

Thank you for this incredible honor.”

If you would like to read Angela’s entire speech, you may do so using the link below.