Director's Dispatch Fiscal Year 2022-23 full of exciting surprises

Few emails spawn a lifelong memory. In 2022, one such correspondence popped up in the Initiative’s inbox. It came from a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) official. He requested to meet with us via Zoom to discuss the federal agency’s decision regarding our teacher-training grant application.

The invitation spurred mixed feelings. On one hand, we anticipated rejection. We heard from experienced colleagues around the country that the NEH tends to turn down first-time applicants. On the other, we felt encouraged by the meeting invitation. The agency, we speculated, must have seen potential in our “Making Holocaust and Genocide Education Relevant Through Inquiry and Classroom Application” proposal. The official, we thought, probably wanted to give us feedback and urge us to reapply the following year.

So, when he quickly got to the point during our Zoom meeting, we needed a minute to process it.

The agency awarded us the grant.

It approved our full requested amount—$190,000.

This was just one of several exciting surprises in the 2022-23 fiscal year (please see our Annual Report), including:

• A $5 million pledge by Penn State alumni Vic and Dena Hammel to endow the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative at Penn State and create the Hammel Family Human Rights Initiative.
• Data showing our pilot-year professional learning’s extremely positive impact. We knew that even during our very first year, our programs would greatly help K-12 educators and students. But we were pleasantly surprised to see just how effective they were out of the gate.
• A trailblazing partnership—led by Initiative affiliate faculty Hollie Kulago, an associate professor at Penn State’s College of Education, and Logan Rutten, an Initiative education program specialist—with the Navajo Nation. Although we had been collaborating and planning with the Department of Diné Education since 2021, we were still pinching ourselves to have the opportunity in 2022-23 to support Navajo Nation teachers.
• Repeat “customers.” After finishing our rigorous, yearlong 2021-2022 program, nearly half of our Red Lion Area School District participants went on to complete a second yearlong program in 2022-23. They did so to dive deeper into this pedagogical work and create opportunities for their students earlier in the school year.

• Penn State alumnus Jordan Rednor’s incredible hospitality. We had no doubt Jordan would do an excellent job hosting our June event at the Chabad Jewish Community Center in Aspen, Colorado. But he went above and beyond in every way, clearing three full days from his busy schedule running the Roaring Fork Broadcasting Company and serving as Decoded Advertising’s COO to join our meetings with local leaders.
• Vic Hammel and former Penn State trustee Elliott Weinstein’s increased activity. They’ve been working closely with us for years. But in 2022-23, they stepped up their game, elevating key aspects of our efforts, including outreach and fundraising. Maybe this did not surprise as much as it amazed us.

As if to come a full circle, we spent the very last week of the 2022-23 fiscal year hosting 30 5th-12th-grade Holocaust teachers from around the country as part of our five-month NEH-grant program.

The teachers, with whom we spent June 25-28 on Penn State’s University Park campus and June 29-30 in Philadelphia, impressed us with their hard work and dedication to improving how they teach the Holocaust.

We could not think of a better way to conclude such a terrific fiscal year.

Now, we wonder: What exciting surprises does 2023-24 hold for us?