LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A group of teachers from across the state is spending a part of their summer learning how to teach about the Holocaust.

It’s an initiative led by two professors from the University of Kentucky. The professors now have selected the group of teachers, which includes Jefferson County Public Schools teacher Shannon Kederis.

Kederis never planned to teach the Holocaust in her early career days.

“I started teaching the holocaust 20 years ago. It was because of a local survivor that I met because growing up I didn’t really I grew up in western Kentucky. I don’t ever remember learning about the Holocaust,” Kederis said.

Kederis now teaches Holocaust and Genocide studies at Jefferson County Public Schools. She became inspired by a Holocaust survivor who ended up mentoring her.

“I think a big reason why teach this class was because that day where we met and developed this relationship,” Kederis said.

This bond led to developing a lesson plan to help high school juniors and seniors learn about the Holocaust.

“I think there’s a tendency for some people to focus on numbers and statistics and maybe the more sort of, I don’t know, graphic aspects of the topic,” Kederis said. “But what I found in the last few years of teaching it is that the human side is really the more important side.”

She’s now joining a group of 20 teachers from across the state who will help other teachers expand the K-12 Holocaust Education.

“I have a lot of experience teaching it but I feel like there’s always something to learn, always something that I can gain from other teachers like on this initiative,” Kederis said. “I think that’s what I’m one of the things I’m really excited about, is learning some, maybe different methods or different teaching strategies to kind of reach all students.”

Teachers will work with the University of Kentucky faculty in Jewish Studies, the College of Education and other content experts during the summer and the 2022-23 academic year to execute the initiative.

“We need this type of education now more than ever,” Kederis said. “I mean, this is not just about learning about one isolated incident in history. There are so many lessons to be gained.”

The initiative is part of the state order called the Ann Klein and Fred Gross Holocaust Education Act and is funded through a grant by the Jewish Heritage Fund for Excellence.