Student Video

In her journey from childhood in a camp war-torn Congo to enrollment at Brandeis University, Geraldine struggled to find her way.  Encouraged by her Facing History and Ourselves teacher at Brookline (MA) High School, Geraldine wrote an essay comparing and contrasting her experiences in The Congo with the Holocaust experiences Elie Wiesel recounts in Night; the essay was one of 50 winners in Oprah Winfrey’s national essay contest. Facing History inspired her to share her story, and set her on a path to improve the lives of young people in the country of her birth.

As part of a joint project between Facing History and Ourselves and the Voice of Witness project, students in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, California, crafted their own oral history media projects, interviewing community members, school peers, and family.

In this clip created by students at Immaculate Conception Academy, San Francisco, students use the voice of a fellow student, a reading from her poetry, and music to dramatize the impact of bullying on a student's daily life at school.

In their own words, students, teachers, principals, and our founder Margot Stern Strom tell the story of how the Facing History experience grows leadership skills and expands empathy and moral insight.  A fast tour through our strengths and approach: teachers and principals recount how our professional development helps them strengthen their own practice,  and our students give voice to new moral insights, expanded horizons, and greater confidence in their future.

Tamika A., a student at Notre Dame Roman Catholic Girls' School, London, shares some of the lessons of her Facing History and Ourselves class. Studying discrimination in the United States in 1957 and other instances of injustice, Tamika and her classmates have learned the importance of not judging a whole group of people based on what some individuals do. Learning about the International Criminal Court, they have wrestled with questions such as whether justice is possible after genocide and whether a child soldier is a victim or a perpetrator.