As a teenager, it is hard to know how I can make a difference in the world. Fourteen-year-olds don’t drive, we don’t make a lot of money, and with school, homework and extracurricular activities, we don’t have a lot of time. When my teacher, Ms. Bengels, introduced me to a challenge that was not only about bettering the community, but also a way in which I could use my passion for documentary filmmaking, I leapt at the opportunity. The IWitness Video Challenge not only allowed me to pursue my passion but also encourage me to make a difference.

Over the course of 2016, testimony from USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive contributed to a wide array of published texts, from studies about the methodology of the Institute’s interviewing and cataloguing, to wholly other subjects that pulled from the VHA to back a defined thesis.

Inspired by the issues affecting his students in Chicago, high school English teacher Wesley Davidson authored one of USC Shoah Foundation’s new resources for 100 Days to Inspire Respect. Davidson, an English teacher at Chicago Tech Academy, authored an IWitness activity called “To Protect and Serve: Community and Policing,” which is the featured resource today, Day 29 of 100 Days to Inspire Respect.

100 Days to Inspire Respect Lea discusses her experiences joining the Boyle Heights community of Los Angeles when she immigrated to the United States after the Holocaust.