With the help of a new grant, Ferris’ Shoah Committee will bring up to 45 students to the Zekelman Holocaust Center and the Arab American National Museum on April 12.
The committee’s focus for this trip is “education for how we respond to and work to prevent human tragedy,” as stated in promotional material.
The Shoah Committee is a group of volunteers that commit to preserving history’s memories and legacies to educate future generations about the Holocaust and other atrocities.
This education is partially provided by Ferris’ access to the Visual History Archive by the University of Southern California’s Shoah Foundation.
In 2018, Ferris became the third university in Michigan to have full access to more than 54,000 primary sources of survivors and witnesses of crimes against humanity. Former Ferris student and child of a Holocaust survivor Mickey Shapiro provided the university with a perpetual license to the archive.
Since then, Ferris professors have used the archive for materials to show their students in the classroom. One of these professors is Dr. Tracy Busch in the history department. She is also the director of Ferris’ Shoah Committee.
As director, Busch participated in the proposal process for the Innovation Accelerator Grant. The grant is managed by business professor Dr. Kasey Thompson. Thompson did not comment in time for publication.
“The purpose appears to be to capture and promote ideas that might otherwise be missed through standard bureaucracy,” Busch said.
With the money from the grant, Busch co-wrote a proposal to take 45 students to the Zekelman Holocaust Center and the Arab American National Museum.
Attending in-person classes may be the foundation for university learning, but Busch maintains that experiences such as this trip allow students to understand new perspectives through stronger cultural immersion.
“The museum will give us a chance to be fully immersed into the challenges faced by both Holocaust survivors and Arab immigrants to the U.S.,” Busch said. “A chance to experience the humanity and history of the fellow travelers on this planet is an experience not to be missed.”
Social work program director Mike Berghoef is a member of the Shoah Committee and co-wrote the proposal with Busch. His parents were teenagers in the Netherlands under German occupation and joined an underground resistance to the Nazis.
With his family’s background and the school’s access to the archive, Berghoef feels personally obligated to continue the work of the Shoah Committee.
“A large part of my leadership is around the area of historic memory,” Berghoef said. “It’s important for us to understand the history to understand the present times and to have proper influence on the future.”
The bus will leave the David L. Eisler Center at 8 a.m. for an all-day trip to Dearborn and Farmington Hills. Both transportation and food are provided. Email tracybusch@nullferris.edu for more information.
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