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Upstander

HHREC Honors Westchester Business Leader, Features Pulitzer Prize-Winning Speaker at Annual Fall Benefit

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HHREC Benefit Honoree Dennis Mehiel   Photos by Julie Rothschild

November 1st 2022– The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) honored Westchester County Business Executive Dennis Mehiel at their annual Benefit at Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York on October 27th.  HHREC Board of Directors Chairperson President Michael Gyory introduced Mehiel, who spoke about the importance of standing up against antisemitism and expressed his gratitude for the work of HHREC in offering programs that teach the lessons learned from the Holocaust. Mr. Mehiel was the first person not of the Jewish faith elected to the Board of Governors of Yeshiva University’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work where he served from 1989 until 1996.

Bret Stephens, New York Times Columnist and Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalis, was the HHREC 2023 keynote speaker.

The program also featured a talk and Q&A with Pulitzer-Prize Winning Journalist, Author, and New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, who appeared as the event Keynote Speaker. Stephen’s talk centered on drawing parallels between 2022 and 1922 and the dangers of overlooking signs of hatred and discrimination, and the possibility that they could reoccur in the U.S. in the years ahead.

HHREC Executive Director Millie Jasper recognized Holocaust survivors who were in the audience and introduced a film about the HHREC Educator’s Study Tour of Germany and Poland. She also thanked the audience for their continued support for HHREC programs and announced a new endowment campaign.

“We are so grateful for the support from our growing community, especially those who came out to be with us for this year’s HHREC Benefit.” said Jasper. “ Our staff, board of directors, and education program partners are reenergized as we continue in our efforts to teach the lessons of the Holocaust, and the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect.”

Additional Photos by Julie Rothschild

(L-R) Iris Weintraub Lachaud; Michael Gyory, chairperson, HHREC; and State Senator Shelley B. Mayer
Holocaust survivors Agnes Vertes and Nick Friedman
(L-R) Rena Hecht, New York State Assemblyman Chris Burdick, and Bob Piliero
David A. Alpert, Board Member, HHREC, with Honoree Dennis Mehiel
(L-R): Rachel Greenspan, Member, HHREC Board of Directors; Grace Bennett, HHREC Advisory Board; and Lisa Salko, HHREC Speakers Bureau

 

Annie Kleinhaus (Holocaust Survivor) and Millie Jasper, Executive Director, HHREC
Board of Directors, Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center
Steve Goldberg, Co-Director of Education, HHREC (second on left) with Karin Kast-Meinhrad (left) and to his right, Karen Kruis and Julia Collins 
(L-R): Brian Lombardo, Dr. Joyce Brown, former New York State Comptroller Carl McCall, who also addressed attendees of the HHREC benefit, and Kelly Mehiel
Michael Brown, Catherine Borgia, Chairperson, Westchester County Board of Legislators, and Pamela Stern
Andrew R. Benerofe, board member, HHREC, and Rabbi Daniel Gropper, Community Synagogue of Rye

About The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center is a not-for-profit organization based in White Plains New York that serves Westchester, Fairfield, and neighboring counties. Their Mission is to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust and the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect. We encourage students to speak up and act against all forms of bigotry and prejudice. Their work with students and teachers helps schools fulfill the New York State mandate that the Holocaust and other human rights abuses be included in their curriculum. Since 1994, they have brought the lessons of the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights crimes to more than 1,500 teachers, and through them to thousands of middle and high school students. Through their volunteer Educators Program Committee, the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center gives teachers the unique opportunity to develop programs for themselves and others. These programs not only enrich teachers’ knowledge about the Holocaust and related issues, but they also provide the lens through which to view all other human rights violations. For more information call 914.696.0738 email info@hhrecny.org 

Human Rights Institute for Middle School Student Leaders: Nov. 14 & 16

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3rd Annual Human Rights Institute for Middle School Student Leaders

hosted by:
The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

DATE: November 14 and November 16, 2017

LOCATION: The New York Medical College, Valhalla

The Human Rights Institute for Middle School Student Leaders is intended to further the mission of The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center by laying the foundations to encourage students to become Upstanders rather than bystanders.

Seventh grade students from invited middle schools will be attending our Third Annual Middle School Institute. A keynote presentation establishes the focus of the program: the importance of confronting prejudice and discrimination. Small group workshops examine the two central themes through activities and discussions. Then, students in their own school groups with their teacher meet to develop two activities to use in their school reflecting the themes of Respecting the Individual and How to Be an Upstander.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER


Sheila Arnold, CEO and Lead Performer of History’s Alive!

The Institute will be attended by students from these schools:
Public Schools include: Ardsley, Brewster, Croton-Harmon, Dobbs Ferry, Greenburgh, Elmsford, Mahopac, Mamaroneck, Mt. Vernon, New Rochelle, North Rockland, North Salem, Pleasantville, Scarsdale, Somers, White Plains, and Yonkers. Private Schools include: Solomon Schechter School, French-American School, and the German International School.

For more information please contact Julie Scallero, Co-Director of Education at The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center – Jscallero@hhrecny.org or (914) 696-0738

Download as a Microsoft Word Document

Human Rights Conference Teaches Middle Schoolers: How to Become an Upstander

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Students from the Paideia School 15 in Yonkers with Sheila Arnold PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIELLE MCCAFFREY
Students from the Paideia School 15 in Yonkers with Sheila Arnold PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIELLE MCCAFFREY

“Betsy Costner” sings a spiritual hymn about freedom as she walks out into the audience of seventh grade students from all corners of Westchester in the auditorium of the Yonkers Riverfront Public Library. Dressed in slave garb, Sheila Arnold who plays “Betsy Costner” a slave from Gastonia, North Carolina, recounts her story working on tobacco and cotton plantations.

Although her story is full of heartbreaking pain, she is able to capture the audience’s attention immediately and relate it to discrimination or struggles that these students might be facing today. Her story kicks off the Second Annual Human Rights Institute for Middle School Student Leaders, which students from 19 public and private middle school students attended earlier this month.

The conference is organized by the White Plains-based Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center (HHREC). The conference’s central themes are respecting the individual and how to be an upstander.
humanrights_2The conference for middle school students was conceptualized after the HHREC noticed that their high school conferences were very well-received, and they felt there was a need to target a younger population. In its inaugural year in 2015, the conference was attended by ten middle schools and 100 students. This year the conference had more than doubled to 200 students participating.

In an election year when racial tensions were at an all time high, a conference like this seems like it should be a mandatory requirement for all students. Millie Jasper, the Executive Director of the HHREC explains the genesis of the conference:

“Why run a day of human rights workshops for middle school students? We feel that students imitate prejudiced and bigoted behavior, and often do not recognize this behavior in themselves. If they see an injustice, they often don’t want to speak up. The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center wants to lay the foundation for encouraging students to be upstanders rather than bystanders.”

Steve Goldberg, HHREC Co-Director of Education and the Social Studies Chairman in the New Rochelle School District, helped tailor the program to a younger audience; he hopes the conference will help students be “catalysts in their school buildings,” and learn to be upstanders when they see injustice rather than passive bystanders.

After the presentation by Arnold, students broke out into small-group workshops which were designed to open conversation regarding the themes, “Respecting the Individual and How to Be an Upstander.” The workshops are facilitated by middle school teachers and high school juniors and seniors who were past participants in the HHREC Human Rights Institute for High School Leaders. The conference for the high school leaders is now in its 15th year.

Sami Davidson, a facilitator who is a junior at Somers High School felt it was an honor to be chosen as a facilitator by HHREC. Davidson attended a day-long training session at HHREC and worked on a lesson plan for her workshop which focused on civil rights with a social studies teacher. Davidson “hopes to show kids that there is more than one side to each story and that they need to think of things in a historical context.” At the conference’s conclusion, the students regroup and develop action plans to address injustices.  For example, some schools have started Amnesty International chapters or created anti-bullying programs.

Students at Seven Bridges Middle School in Chappaqua also got to see Arnold perform at their school earlier. Arnold has been performing in Chappaqua schools for the past five years and will be at Bell this spring. She said she considers herself a “hors d’oeuvres” that helps to get kids interested in history and humanize it for them.“If I’ve done my job right, there are kids that will leave my performances and start talking and want more information. They will never be able to look at a textbook the same way again because they are now seeing history through a person’s perspective.”  For more information about the HHREC and membership, please visit www.hhrecyny.org

Stacey Pfeffer lives with her husband and three young children in Chappaqua. She has written for New York Family Magazine, Westchester Parent, Westchester Family Magazine, Kveller.com and Inside Armonk.