SEPTEMBER 5, 2023– Sandra Banon, a Cycle 3 French teacher at St. Monica Elementary School in NDG, and Samantha Page Smith, a Spiritual and Community Animator at Westmount High, St. Monica, Hampstead, and John Grant High School, were selected to take part in the 2023 Canadian Society for Yad Vashem Holocaust Educators Scholarship program in Israel this past July along with dozens of other educators from across Canada.
Ms.Banon took part in the two-week seminar in French, while Ms. Smith took part in the English. They attended lectures and workshops at the International School for Holocaust Studies (ISHS) where educators are taught to bring their students safely in and safely out of the learning environment with the provision of age and level appropriate materials to aid the learning process. The ISHS uses an interdisciplinary approach to Holocaust education – through art, music, literature, theology and drama – to provide students a broader understanding of what happened during this period. They will now bring their applied knowledge to St. Monica (and others) in the year ahead.
About the Project
The objective of the EMSB Holocaust Education Program is to sensitize students and staff to the history of the Holocaust and acts of Antisemitism via special guests, lectures and visits to the Montreal Holocaust Museum and different exhibits and programming in the community.
