AFP Receives Additional Funding for Sophia’s Legacy!
Buffalo State University shares Sophia’s Legacy news!
Today’s educators face numerous challenges, not the least of which being how to teach and discuss difficult topics and events—particularly those that may be triggering for students.
High school English as a Second Language teacher Matt Lapennas said he feels equipped to take on such topics, thanks to the training he received from Sophia’s Legacy, a new component of Buffalo State University’s Anne Frank Project that provides Western New York educators with tools to bring lessons about genocide and conflict education into their classrooms.
“Many of my students have experienced trauma, so it is always a fine line to balance between teaching to that experience and not wanting to bring up the pain that they carry,” Lapennas said. “The tools and approach we are developing allow me to teach painful history while giving students the tools they need to process their own pain and trauma. Sophia's Legacy makes it possible to face personal and collective pain together and move toward healing.”
Lapennas is one of six Buffalo Public School teachers who recently completed training as part of the pilot cohort for Sophia’s Legacy. Thanks to a two-year grant from the Vogt Family Foundation at the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, the professional development program, named for Holocaust survivor Sophia Veffer, was able to train this cohort at no cost to the district. The Vogt Family Foundation recently granted Sophia’s Legacy an additional two-year grant, which will allow AFP to continue and build upon its initial success with the pilot cohort of teachers and school social workers. The pilot teachers will now train other teachers.
“We are immensely grateful to the Vogt Family Foundation for their continued support for bringing Holocaust, genocide, and conflict education into the classroom,” said Drew Kahn, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and founding director of the Anne Frank Project. “We have learned so much from our collaborators and are especially indebted to our pilot cohort of teachers and social workers. Teachers need to have more say of what happens in their classrooms. Our job is to provide all the tools and remove all the obstacles for teachers to teach these valuable and challenging lessons.”