Plainfield teacher participated in Holocaust program

A teacher from Plainfield Community School District 202 recently participated in a “high-level, intensive academic seminar” about the “complex history of the “Holocaust,” according to a news release from the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous.

Margaret Berry, a teacher from John F. Kennedy Middle School in Plainfield, was one of 21 middle and high school teachers from 12 states and four educators at U.S.-based Holocaust centers, one of these 2021 Alfred Lerner Fellows, according to the release.

Discussions about new teaching techniques for introducing the topic of the Holocaust into their classrooms was part of the program, which was hosted by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous and held virtually from June 27 through July 1, according to the release.

Noted Holocaust scholars gave the lectures, including Doris Bergen, Jeffrey Burds, Benjamin Carter Hett, Lawrence Douglas, Steven Field, Daniel Greene, Peter Hayes, Samuel Kassow, Paul Salmons, Stanlee Stahl, Robert Jan van Pelt, Edward Westermann and Alexandra Zapruder, according to the release.

All teachers selected for the program were English or social studies teachers at the middle or high school level. They had taught for at least five years, were at least five years from retirement and currently teach the Holocaust in their classroom, according to the release.

In addition, each participant came from a region of the U.S. “where the JFR operates Holocaust Centers of Excellence in conjunction with a local Holocaust museum or center,” according to the release.

The Fellowship program is named in memory of Alfred Lerner, the founding chairman and chief executive officer of MBNA Corporation. Lerner, who died in 2002, was “a long-time advisor and supporter of JFR programs and activities,” according to the release.