 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Press Releases:
4-06 Coral Shores Students Win Grant to Study and Teach about International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and the Holocaust
TAVERNIER, Fla. – The ruling Hutu tribe in Rwanda slaughtered 800,000 Tutsi men, women, and children during a hundred-day bloodbath in 1994 while children in America were born in pristine hospitals and celebrated with lavish first-year birthday parties. Now those same American children are learning what happened half a globe away in a devastating picture of media-driven mass murder left unchecked in the film “Hotel Rwanda” thanks to a Service Learning Mini Grant from Monroe County School District awarded to Coral Shores Teacher Anjanette McGregor for her leadership class.
Photo Credit: MYCP
Two Coral Shores High School Freshman, Oceane Leguiset and Nikki Pravata, arrange photos in the media center as they prepare displays to promote education about International Humanitarian Law and the Holocaust as part of a recent Monroe Youth Challenge Program-sponsored leadership class project. The displays are scheduled to show in the Key Largo Library in May.
The mini-grant program is funded by Florida Learn and Serve. “Two of our leadership students, Oceane Leguiset and Nikki Pravata have a heart for people all around the world and how they are treated. So we’re thrilled to have this grant and allow these two freshmen to share their passion for international humanitarian law (IHL) with their peers” said McGregor. The two students had a unique opportunity to show this film to the Leadership Class students and be leaders teaching about genocide, IHL, and the Holocaust thanks to the $664 mini grant and matching in-kind contributions from the community valued at another $600.
As part of the Leadership Class, sponsored by the Monroe Youth Challenge Program, these two students chose a project with three major components to maximize the exposure for this gruesome subject. First, the students presented the curriculum of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and the Red Cross Youth Peer Education Curriculum. McGregor coordinated with the American Red Cross who donated an Instructor and the IHL workbooks to assist the student leaders. Michele Sutter, MYCP Prevention Coordinator, along with Attorney Frank Greenman of Marathon, who donated his time pro bono, also served as Instructors for the project.The second component was the showing of the film “Hotel Rwanda” followed by the student leaders facilitating a class discussion regarding salient issues, IHL, and genocide. McGregor, the leadership teacher, helped Leguiset create a rubric and essay assignment for formal reflection of the film to see how well it was received and what impact the teaching had. Francine Swadley, a senior, started her reflection essay with, “Paul Rusesabagina is a very amazing person! When the world closed its eyes, he opened his arms and created a place where hope could survive. In the movie ‘Hotel Rwanda’ [we] saw astonishing leadership traits.” Another student, Garrett Pribyl concluded his reflection by writing, “If only the world was fortunate enough to have more people like Paul Rusesabegina.”
If Pribyl’s wise ponderance were true in the 1940’s there may have been some different outcomes in the horrific era in German history known all-too-well as the holocaust. As the final component of this grant, the teen leaders were compelled to make it possible for students from the history class that meets at the same time to attend Student Awareness Day Holocaust Symposium held April 6. Student Awareness Day is sponsored by the Holocaust Education and Documentation Center in Miami and hosted by Miami-Dade Community College. At this memory-imprinting luncheon every student has the opportunity to sit with a survivor of the holocaust and hear first-hand of their experience. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was made possible by in-kind donations in materials from the Holocaust Memorial and Museum in Washington D.C. “Gratitude from the students is humbly extended to the Keys Jewish Community Center in Tavernier for providing funds toward the transportation to this powerful event,” said Sutter.
To further the awareness about this campaign to the student body and the community, Leguiset and Pravata plan to create a visual display about the Holocaust, genocide, and IHL to be exhibited in the CSHS Media Center. The two students are then scheduled to make presentations to three social studies classes as well as their own leadership class. The display is expected to be exhibited in the Key Largo Public Library in the month of May. Regarding her purpose for doing this project, Leguiset said, “For my leadership individual project, I chose activities that would shine a light upon atrocities that have and are occurring in nations throughout the world. Having studied U.S. Foreign Policy at Princeton this summer, I realized the power the U.S. actually has and with that power, if utilized positively, we could definitely make change. …. My mission is to make change. This change can only be made through awareness.”
Monroe Youth Challenge Program is a project of the Monroe County Education Foundation to foster acceptance, respect, and success in the youth of Monroe County. For more information about this event, Challenge Day, Next Step, or any other MYCP sponsored program call MYCP District Prevention Coordinator Michele Sutter at (305) 852-1664 or go to www.keysschools.org.
