CHS teacher Robin Cook, along with the other fellows in the 2024 Jewish Foundation for the Righteous Alfred Lerner Fellow program.

Even eight decades removed from one of humanity’s darkest chapters, educators perennially find the subject of the Holocaust a delicate one to broach with new generations of students.

At Cullman High School, teacher Robin Cook will enter the start of the upcoming academic year equipped with new approaches and ideas on how to make today’s students aware of past human horrors. Last month, Cook traveled to Newark, New Jersey as one of 22 educators nationwide selected as a 2024 Jewish Foundation for the Righteous Alfred Lerner Fellow.

The prestigious selection afforded Cook and other middle and high school teachers the opportunity to take part in the organization’s Summer Institute for Teachers, a program designed to explore “the complex history of the Holocaust,” according to the foundation, while “discussing new teaching techniques for introducing the subject of the Holocaust into their classrooms.”

“This organization brings in Holocaust education scholars from all over the world,” Cook said in a release after taking part in the program. “Learning was continual and intense. The scholars generously shared their expertise and their time. Another benefit was working with teachers — both classroom and museum — from across the country. Developing activities that work in the classroom with other educators was beneficial and thought provoking.”

“The three primary goals for the JFR’s Summer Institute are to provide teachers with a graduate-level course on Antisemitism and the Holocaust; to empower educators to develop pedagogical connections with other teachers; and to equip these teachers with additional resources to bring back to their classrooms,” added JFR Executive Vice President Stanlee Stahl.

The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous was founded in 1986, and the program in which Cook took part is named in memory of Alfred Lerner — the founding chairman and chief executive officer of MBNA Corporation — who died in October 2002. An advisor and supporter of JFR activities, Lerner’s commitment to the work of the foundation and his special interest in the field of Holocaust education led to the seminar being endowed in his name.

“The three primary goals for the JFR’s Summer Institute are to provide teachers with a graduate-level course on Antisemitism and the Holocaust; to empower educators to develop pedagogical connections with other teachers; and to equip these teachers with additional resources to bring back to their classrooms,” JFR Executive Vice President Stanlee Stahl said.

Cook said her selection as an Alfred Lerner Fellow enabled her to learn from both Holocaust survivors and academic experts on the topic, and has afforded her unique access to knowledge and insights that she can introduce into her own classroom curriculum at Cullman High School.