Boston, Massachusetts-- On April 27th, over
one thousand people attended the New England Benefit Dinner in
celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Facing History and Ourselves and
to honor Margot Stern Strom, its founder and Executive Director.
Chaired by the Karp family - Jill, Stephen, Douglass, and Jana, the
Benefit raised over $1.8 million and featured the voices of Facing
History students, teachers, and supporters. The keynote speaker for
this year's dinner was Carl Wilkens, who was the director of the
Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Rwanda when the genocide
erupted there in 1994. He was the only American to remain in the
country after the killings began.
The theme for the evening was the power of choice. Students shared
about the impact of their Facing History classes and classroom speakers
like Carl Wilkens had on their understanding of the complexities of
history and their own decisions. Adrianne Billingham, teacher at
Lexington High School, summarized the power of the Facing History
curriculum by saying:
"With Facing History, students begin to see that they have the ability
and the responsibility to make moral decisions in their lives. They
begin to see that their choices count. This is the result of learning
history with a text in one hand and a mirror in the other."
During the evening the Karp family and Dana Smith, Chair of the New
England Advisory Board, acknowledged the profound impact of Facing
History's Founder and Executive Director Margot Stern Strom and
presented a tribute book in her honor.