April 18, 2019 -- The Heights High Lessons of the Holocaust class and members of the Minority Student Achievement Network, MSAN, traveled to three locations to learn about the Civil Rights movement and the Holocaust and to visit a university.

The 40 students on the trip visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, the Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center in Cincinnati, and Tennessee State University in Nashville on March 21 - 23. 

The two groups have traveled together for the past six years for field trips and other activities that focus on civil rights history and the Holocaust.

Junior Taylor Baker attended the most recent trip and contributed to this article.  She is a member of MSAN and is enrolled in Mark Sack’s Lessons of the Holocaust course.

“While at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, we heard stories about all of the African American activists who contributed to our history,” said Taylor.  These included  MLK, Rosa Parks, and Emmett Till. “Our tour guide was even honest enough to tell us that a lot of people do not agree with the Civil Rights Museum and that they protest outside of it every day.”

The students also saw the site where Martin Luther King was assassinated, the Lorraine Motel.

In Cincinnati, at the Holocaust & Humanity Center, students learned about Jewish culture. “One of the most interesting things I learned was why some Jews chose not to fight Nazis and how their decisions affected them and their family,” continued Taylor.  

Taylor found both experiences to be meaningful. “The trip was really inspiring for me, mostly because I take Mr. Sack’s Lessons of The Holocaust class that addresses the issues that Jews and other persecuted groups face. The class never fails to teach me something new every day,” she said.

The Nashville stop was at Tennessee State University where students met with Heights alumni Jaylen Coleman and Ashanti Austin who are currently students at TSU. The Heights alumni talked to the current Heights students about TSU’s academic opportunities and fraternity and sorority life. The visit also included an official tour arranged by TSU.

The MSAN is a 27 member national coalition of multiracial school districts that are devoted to understanding and eliminating the opportunity/achievement gaps while ensuring all students achieve to high levels. The organization was formed in 1999, CHUH is a founding member. 

The MSAN advisers are O’Dasha Blue, Shawn Washington, and Nathan Williams. 

 

The Lessons of the Holocaust class is taught by Mark Sack, a Heights High alum who was enrolled in the course as a student in the mid-1970’s.
Funding for the combined MSAN/Holocaust experiences are provided by the CHUH School District, with a major portion of the funding from the Traub Family Foundation at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. 

This fund also donates to the Holocaust Education Fund at the Heights Schools Foundation. To help support these efforts, please contact Heights Schools Foundation the Executive Director Julianna Johnston Senturia.