Kennewick Teacher Selected For Once In A Lifetime Honor

A teacher in the Kennewick School District has been selected to receive a prestigious fellowship from a group dedicated to preserving, and teaching about, one of the most horrific events in human history.  She is one of four educators statewide (and one of forty-four nationally) to be selected for the over six month program.

Jana Valdez, who teaches Social Studies at Legacy High School, was chosen by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation (ABMF) as a recipient of their 4th annual Auschwitz Legacy Fellowship.  The fellowship (which is fully funded by ABMF) includes a number of things intended to help equip high school teachers with the tools needed to teach students about the atrocities committed at Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Holocaust as a whole.

Get our free mobile app

What Does The Fellowship Include?

Ms. Valdez will begin her year-long fellowship with a rigorous six month online training program.  After that, she will accompany the other fellows on a week-long trip to Poland where she will spend three days at the infamous concentration camp (one day at the museum and two in educational workshops).  The group will also visit sites in Krakow and Warsaw were relevant to the events of the Holocaust.

Upon returning to the States, Ms. Valdez will receive tools to bring into her classroom that include:

• a documentary film 
• lesson plans
• access to new online, live, guided remote tours of Auschwitz-Birkenau, "Auschwitz in Front of Your Eyes." 
• practical tools for countering antisemitism in the classroom

The program also encourages the fellow to instruct their students about the lessons learned from Auschwitz, and the Holocaust, for at least five years.  Ronald S. Lauder, Chairman of the ABMF said this about the goal of the program.

Seventy-eight years and three generations have passed since Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated, and most young people know nothing about it. When people forget about the past, they may repeat the crimes like the Holocaust. That’s why our Foundation developed the Auschwitz Legacy Fellowship.

Congratulations to Jana on her selection as a 2025 Auschwitz Legacy Fellow and all the best to her as she begins the program.  If you are an educator, or you know one that may be interested in applying for the 2026 fellowship, you can click here formore information or send an email alfellowship@preserveauschwitz.org.