During the past three months, the CHES Speakers’ Bureau, which coordinates survivors’ visits to classrooms, experienced a massive spike in demand due to the recent rise in antisemitism in Ottawa. Local teachers have stepped up to bring awareness of the Holocaust to their classrooms through our team of incredible speakers who shared their stories of surviving the Holocaust with teachers and students resulting in CHES connecting with well over 1500 students, teachers, and future teachers. We thank each of you for going above and beyond the call of duty and for sharing your knowledge.
Please enjoy some of the feedback we have received about the Speakers’ Bureau and the experiences brought to so many classrooms, including Saint Pius X High School, St. Francis Xavier High School, and Algonquin College.
… our school was extremely grateful and humbled to welcome Tibor Egervari to speak with our students in December. Our students were very honoured to hear his story, and to build an understanding of his experiences. This kind of opportunity is essential as we continue to work towards breaking down barriers of racism and antisemitism through relationships and understanding.
I did want to take a moment and thank you for helping us arrange for Tibor Egervari to come into our school! What a wonderful experience this was! The students were very engaged as he spoke. They asked questions and were given thoughtful answers. Overall the presentation was age- appropriate and thought-provoking. Mr. Egervari was welcoming and engaging. I would change nothing at all about the presentation.
We would like to express our sincere appreciation for your part in making Stories of Hope & Remembrance an impactful, moving, and educational event which will not soon be forgotten. We have already received a great deal of positive feedback for what this experiential learning means to our community. You have made a difference today, and we are eternally grateful.
The presentation was really effective and contained a significant amount of relevant information and covered topics that the students were able to relate to on some level, whether it be finding who they are, their culture, or their experiences. It was really informative! The presenters were both very open and honest when answering our students’ questions, which was very appreciated.
All students were very attentive. They asked great questions about how Tibor Egervari could live with this awful experience today, how was it to survive in Communist Hungary, more details about the perspective of a child. I can’t recall them all, but the students had a lot of very relevant questions to ask Tibor, who was very generous in answering them all. I would love to do a similar session next year with Tibor if possible. He was so incredible; it was honestly one of the most memorable experiences of my teaching career.
