Partner Post South Carolina Council on the Holocaust empowers educators through collaborative partnerships

After teaching about the Holocaust for more than 20 years, Scott Auspelmyer is employing a new and ambitious educational model to engage youths on the subject.

Auspelmyer is the executive director of the South Carolina Council on the Holocaust, which has partnered with the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative at Penn State and Gratz College to offer South Carolina teachers a yearlong professional development program that began in July with a two-day workshop.

As a government agency established in 1989, the Council collaborates with the state legislature and the South Carolina Department of Education to raise awareness about the Holocaust and honor the victims and survivors.

“Typically, our feedback from teachers is along the lines of, ‘I’m happy and excited to take this back to my classroom,’” Auspelmyer said. “Teachers will then follow up looking for more resources, looking for grants and looking for other professional development opportunities.”

Teachers will then follow up looking for more resources, looking for grants and looking for other professional development opportunities.

Scott Auspelmyer, executive director of the South Carolina Council on the Holocaust

Auspelmyer, a former educator at Blythewood High School in Blythewood, SC, began his tenure as executive director of the Council in 2020. Having a background in education allows him to better understand how to help other teachers, Auspelmyer said.

“I always try to approach every workshop and institute, and everything we plan, with the mindset of ‘what can I give teachers that’s going to be useful for them in some way?’” he said.

The partnership with the Initiative and Gratz will enable the Council to offer a new option for South Carolina teachers while earning graduate credits through Gratz.

“Hopefully, this will be the first of many years we continue to do this with the Initiative,” Auspelmyer said.