An Orange County Schools teacher was recently named the first-ever Outstanding Holocaust Educator of the Year.
The Center for Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Education of North Carolina presented the statewide recognition to Selena Masse, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Orange Middle School, during the Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Ha’Shoah) Program at the Kehillah Synagogue in Chapel Hill on April 27.
In an acceptance speech, Masse said she aims for her students to move beyond surface-level knowledge to truly grasp the human realities of the subjects, moments, and events they study.
“I want my students to develop empathy, think critically, recognize the danger of prejudice, become responsible citizens, and understand the connection between the Holocaust and other genocides and human rights violations,” Masse said.
The award honors K-12 teachers “who actively, by their example and through teaching about these difficult subjects, strengthen North Carolina students’ world-citizenship and capacity to uphold the dignity of all persons.” According to a release from Orange County Schools, Masse grounds her teaching on human rights and genocide — with the Holocaust serving as a crucial example to illustrate the devastating consequences of intolerance — in the hope of “preventing history from repeating itself.”
The recognition honored Masse’s ability to draw extensively on speaker testimony, authors, film, and other experiences to make deeper connections for students. The educator said personal narratives help foster lasting connections, prompting students to leave class “much more open-minded to other cultures and people, and sympathetic to victims of human rights violations and genocide.”
“I’ve always believed that kids need to have the ability to hear from different sources of information,” Masse said. “That’s what they learn best by. They learn best not only from reading about stuff, but actually hearing firsthand accounts.”
For example, a figure students met through Masse was Bronia Brandman, one of the youngest survivors of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp and co-author of The Girl Who Survived: A True Story of the Holocaust. She joined Masse’s class via Zoom to speak about her own and her family’s experience.
In the release, several of Masse’s former students spoke highly of her class, stating how the lessons made them feel empowered to fight against the chance of similar events happening again.
“I also like the fact that when we were reading books and short stories about real people who went through horrid experiences in the Holocaust, they were teenagers like me and the people in my class,” one student said. “It made it easier to feel sympathy for someone that could’ve been you.”
In the closing remarks of her speech, Masse quoted Brandman’s autobiographical book.
“Stories have a moral or lesson,” Masse said. “It is your job to learn the story of the Holocaust and tell it to others. Remember what took place and help others see that the world must not allow this to happen again. We must be humane in our dealings with others. To be kind and caring toward one another is vital. Each of us must look for ways to protect others who are at risk. To save one life is as if you saved the whole world. That must be our goal.”
Masse will also be recognized by the Orange County Board of Education at its meeting on May 19.
Featured photo via Jala Davis/Orange County Schools.
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