For the third year, Eighth Grade History teacher Sarah Pitcher-Hoffman engaged her students in service work through the IWitness Video Challenge. IWitness is an educational website developed by USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education that provides access to nearly 1,300 full-life histories, testimonies of survivors and witnesses to the Holocaust and other genocides for guided exploration. IWitness brings the human stories of the Institute’s Visual History Archive to secondary school teachers and their students via engaging multimedia-learning activities. The activities are designed to be participatory, academic and student-driven.
And, for the third year in a row, one of our Eighth Grade students has received special recognition. Lanna K.’s video, Hope and Happiness, (it’s the third one listed on the site) was chosen as a winner in the regional round. Lanna volunteered at Gould Farm, a local therapeutic community for those struggling with mental health and brought ideas about finding hope and happiness back to friends and family. The regional finalists of the IWitness Video Challenge were inspired by genocide testimony to serve food to the needy, inspire and motivate those who are struggling, honor the elderly and more. Lanna will now advance to the final round of judging, and one will be named the winner of the 2016 IWitness Video Challenge.
Congratulations and thank you, Sarah and Lanna!