In this activity, students will examine the impact that personal stories can have in inspiring others to action. They will listen and reflect on genocide survivor testimonies, discuss the concept of leadership and form belief statements about how they can become leaders in their communities.

This series will highlight one teaching activity per day for 10 days, pairing eyewitness testimony with standards-aligned lessons that transform learning.

"Nothing compares to eyewitness accounts," said teacher Ivy Schamis of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. "The students get a better feel for the survivor or liberator when they hear their own words and see their body language. It is very inspiring."

USC Shoah Foundation launched the first in a series of educational activities developed in partnership with the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU). The series incorporates testimony of Armenian Genocide survivors and their descendants with supplementary videos from AGBU WebTalks, and is available to students through the Institute’s award-winning educational website, IWitness.

With an audience of 75 participants, the webinar broke Echoes and Reflections’ record for most people registered and most attended.

Five members of the educational nonprofit started working with USC Shoah Foundation education staff last week to develop resources in IWitness for Panamanian students and teachers.

Librarians from New York City schools will have the opportunity to learn about IWitness at their 2017 annual fall conference on November 14.

From Oct. 24-26 at the USC Shoah Foundation office in Los Angeles, education staff guided the attendees through methodologies of building testimony-based educational content in IWitness and discussed plans and expectations for each institution moving forward.

Street will lead presentations and workshops throughout the week-long event, which this year is centered on the post-Holocaust period and the specific events, or “pivotal moments,” that have shaped our understanding of the Holocaust.

New Dimensions in Testimony will be exhibited in the Abe & Ida Cooper Survivor Stories Experience, enabling visitors to interact with the project’s filmed testimonies of 13 survivors, including seven who live in the Chicago area.