My name is April Balenger, and I am an eighth-grade history teacher in Barrow County, Georgia. I recently participated in the Teacher Ambassador Program, and it has been one of the best things I’ve done for myself and my students.

I have been an educator for 29 years but never felt capable of really teaching on the Holocaust or antisemitism. The truth is that teachers simply aren’t equipped. We’re given the curriculum and told, here you go, follow the standards. But it’s simply not enough, which was demonstrated in my students, who were clearly not grasping the material.

This is why I (along with several other Georgia teachers from 14 counties) am so grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in a four-day trip to New York to improve our ability to teach on the Holocaust.

I found the New York experience deeply moving and educational, and it has made me a much better teacher. After the trip, I transformed my approach by emphasizing the personal stories of Holocaust victims rather than focusing solely on the atrocities. I started focusing on the people who risked their lives to help and sharing the stories of survivors, which is making a huge difference with my students.

This approach taught in the Teacher Ambassador Program helped my kids to attach empathy and foster a greater understanding that this could have been their mother, father, grandmother, or grandfather, and it helps bring it to life for them.

I strongly believe that the funding from Federation’s Innovation Initiative for programs like this is essential, as it equips teachers with the knowledge and resources needed to educate their students effectively about the Holocaust and antisemitism.

Georgia ranks towards the bottom of Holocaust education, and that’s not good. We’re spawning a whole new generation of kids that, unfortunately, are going to one day think, I heard about that, but I don’t know a lot about it. We can’t allow that to happen. We need more knowledgeable teachers, so the funding from Federation is money very well spent.

The resources I have been able to access through these trips, classes, and institutes are invaluable, and I plan to bring the information I have learned beyond my school, too. Thank you so much for providing me with this invaluable opportunity to learn, grow as an educator, inspire the next generation, and fight antisemitism from inside the classroom.