High School Living History Project
HHREC High School Living History Project
The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center offers an opportunity for students to participate in an intergenerational program connecting high school students with the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors (GenerationsForward).
Program Description and Purpose
The Living History project is a program that involves several schools from throughout Westchester County. It is a program that joins together High School students grades 10, 11 and 12 with either Holocaust Survivors, their children, or grandchildren to tell the family’s story of resilience, strength and survival.
The project begins in December with students learning background knowledge of the Holocaust,, how to conduct an interview, and create an oral history. From there the students are then matched with an individual willing to participate and the process begins with interviews in January and February and on to project development. Focusing first on the powerpoint and then on the individual project.
We hope that the connections the students make will inspire them and help inform their decisions as they grow into adults. For the GenerationsForward members, the program ensures that younger generations continue to hear the stories of the Holocaust: both its horrors and the tremendous courage and resilience of its many survivors. These stories, in addition to creating a living history, serve as a platform to have greater discussions about human rights issues impacting our world.
Project Outcomes
Students create projects which prepare them to give an oral presentation as they share their GenerationsForward member’s story, a timeline of events in the survivors’ home country and implications this learning has for the future. The final project must be able to live in a digital space and can be as creative as the student would like. Students are encouraged to also present their project to their school community.
The Power of Stories
Living History Presentations by Westchester County High School Students
April 22, 2026
This year the Project matched 8 students from 7 schools and took place on April 22, 2026 at the office of the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center. The students each took turns at presenting a powerpoint presentation in which they told the family story and then presented the family with a creative piece that helped to symbolize their journey to survival. The various projects consisted of a graphic novel, various pieces of art, and a uniquely scored piece of music. The students' works were deeply moving.
The HHREC GenerationsForward Speakers and students who presented stories about the Holocaust this year. Pictured from L to R included:
Alaija Wallace (Mt Vernon HS)
Jeanne Claire Cotnoir (Coordinator of Student Programming)
James Blenkle (Valhalla HS)
Taylor Todman (Byram Hills HS
Allison Lusthaus (Somers HS)
Devin Ferrucci (New Rochelle HS)
Sophie Coverdale (New Rochelle HS)
Iree Jiang (Croton Harmon HS)
Lily McDermott (Briarcliff HS) is missing.
The program was organized and led by Jeanne Claire Cotnoir, HHREC Coordinator of Student Programming.
2025 Living History Students
Mount Vernon High School eleventh-grade student Desirae Bailey-McCalla was paired with HHREC GenerationsForward Speaker Helen Rubel, the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. Desirae worked closely with Mrs. Rubel to learn the story of her family, and created a storybook titled Making Lemonade: When Life Gives You Lemons, about what she had learned. She presented it to Helen, who was delighted as her 9 and 10-year-old granddaughters love graphic novels, and she is excited to share the family story with them. To view her presentation, click here.
One of the highlights of the 2015 Living History Project was a presentation by Elden Agee, who wrote this poem:
“We Stand”
When voices tremble and streets grow still,
When truth is buried beneath the will
Of those who whisper, “Not my fight,”
We rise. We march. We hold the light.
When hatred hides in suit and tie,
And laws are passed while people cry,
When fear is dressed in something neat,
We speak. We shout. We won’t retreat.
When silence feels like safety's song,
And comfort tells us, “Just go along,”
We break that hush with louder sound—
With justice fierce, with hearts unbound.
For Ilse’s tears we never saw,
For names erased by hate-made law,
For every soul the world ignored,
We stand. We fight. We move toward more.
More love. More truth. More hands held high.
More reasons not to turn our eye.
More courage pulsing in our chest,
To choose what's hard. To be our best.
So when the world says, “Let it be,”
Remember those who couldn’t flee.
And when injustice shakes the land,
Don’t sit. Don’t wait.
We rise. We stand. - Elden Agee
