Outline:
A Westlake High School Teacher’s Journey into Holocaust Education
Lisa Landrum-May, an English teacher at Westlake High School in Waldorf, Maryland, has been chosen for the Auschwitz Legacy Fellowship. This year-long program is dedicated to Holocaust education and includes virtual sessions as well as a study trip to Poland. The fellowship will begin with monthly virtual meetings starting in late January, culminating in a summer visit to Warsaw, Krakow, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum.
Landrum-May, who also teaches Advanced Placement African American Studies, plans to integrate insights from the program into her curriculum. She aims to connect Holocaust history with the Civil Rights movement and current racial justice issues in the United States. For example, she previously studied redlining practices in Detroit and uses that knowledge to deepen students’ understanding of Lorraine Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun.
Her goal is to encourage critical thinking among students, helping them recognize and address injustice. “I want my students to understand their responsibility to recognize injustice and speak out,” she said. “Whether they are studying Europe in the 1940s or America today.”
Landrum-May has a long history of professional development, including being selected as a Fulbright Specialist and participating in two National Endowment for the Humanities summer institutes. “I am a firm believer in lifelong learning,” she said. “I actively seek out professional development that deepens my understanding of history and social justice.”
She also serves as an implicit bias facilitator for Charles County Public Schools and has pursued fellowships and humanities programs over the years. “I have seen how understanding painful history empowers students to question, analyze, and refuse injustice in their own lives,” she said.
The Auschwitz Legacy Fellowship
Established in 2022 by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation, the Auschwitz Legacy Fellowship provides U.S. high school teachers with resources to teach about Auschwitz. Ronald S. Lauder, the foundation’s chairman, noted in 2022 that 77 years and three generations have passed since the camp was liberated. “There are young people who know nothing about it,” he said. “When people don’t know anything about the Nazis and the gas chambers and the horror, that’s when crimes like this can be repeated.”
The 2022 cohort included 32 educators, with more than 149 trained over three years. The foundation aims to reach 500 teachers nationwide by 2030. Piotr M.A. Cywinski, director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, told the 2022 group, “The lessons of Auschwitz you will bring to your students can and will change your students’ perception of the world they live in.”
Program Structure and Impact
The fellowship features a fully funded seven-day trip to Poland, complete with expert-led tours and workshops on Holocaust pedagogy. Participants also receive ongoing curricular support and join a professional network from 20 states.
Westlake High School, part of Charles County Public Schools in Southern Maryland, serves grades 9-12 with an enrollment of 1,185 students. The school has a student-teacher ratio of 17 to 1 and is located at 3300 Middletown Road in Waldorf. With a 96 percent minority enrollment and 47 percent of students classified as economically disadvantaged, the school has an AP participation rate of 18 percent and ranks 171st among Maryland high schools.
This fellowship aligns with broader efforts in Maryland to incorporate Holocaust education, as state mandates require instruction on the topic in high school social studies. Charles County Public Schools supports such initiatives through professional development, enabling teachers like Landrum-May to enhance lessons on justice and history.
Recent school board recognitions in Charles County have highlighted student achievements in academics and personal responsibility, reflecting the district’s focus on holistic education. Westlake has also hosted events honoring custodial staff and celebrated graduates earning substantial scholarships, underscoring community investment in education.
Landrum-May’s participation marks a continued commitment to educator growth in Southern Maryland, where access to national programs like this fellowship strengthens local teaching on global historical events.