KCHS teacher chosen for Bearing Witness Program

Knoxville Catholic High School teacher Joan Williams was recently selected to be a Tennessee representative in the weeklong Bearing Witness Program in Washington, D.C., this summer.

This program, offered by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Anti-Defamation League, the Archdiocese of Washington, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, hopes to implement effective Holocaust curriculum in Catholic schools nationwide.

Miss Williams completed a Museum Teacher Fellowship at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2013 and 2014, and she was awarded the Belz-Lipman Holocaust Educator Award for Tennessee educators in 2015. She used the Belz-Lipman grant to take a research trip to Germany and Poland, where she followed the journey of the characters in the nonfiction Holocaust book Maus.

After completing the Bearing Witness Program, Miss Williams will use her expertise and experience to help the Tennessee Holocaust Commission in bringing this training to all Tennessee Catholic educators.

“I am honored to represent Catholic educators in Tennessee, along with Lauren Boccia and Deanna Kendall,” Miss Williams said.

Miss Williams has been teaching a Holocaust curriculum to sophomore English students at KCHS since 2008.

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