Project Proposal
Funds from the CHS Foundation will be used to purchase plane tickets for students and chaperones, a charter bus, tickets to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, and lunch for the students and chaperones.
Amount Funded: $27,000
“I am grateful to the Central High Foundation and the donors for believing in our students and the value of experiences such as this. Because of you, I was able to open up just a bit of the world to my students and help them better understand what we study in class.”
Jennifer Stastny, CHS English Teacher
68 Students Impacted
Commitment to Closing the Opportunity Gap
Most of the students who attended the field trips are from families with limited financial resources. When budgets are tight, opportunities for travel and experiential learning are limited. During this trip, students not only had the opportunity to learn more about the Holocaust, but they also learned about Chicago and how to navigate airports, which will serve them well as they become adults. Some of them had never visited a museum like this, so they learned about the procedures and etiquette involved in such an activity. Ms. Jennifer Stastny, a CHS English teacher and trip chaperone says, “I think it also helped so many of them see that there is a world beyond Omaha where they might see themselves living one day.”
Translation to College and Career Readiness
This experience is important to students’ academic growth because visiting the museum and viewing historical artifacts makes history tangible for students. It is easy for people to think of history as stories that don’t impact real people when sitting in a classroom. Stastny emphasizes, “When we are face-to-face with a train car that the Nazis used to transport human beings to camps, the history becomes real.” Gracie Kooser, CHS 25, remembers that “the most impactful part for me was seeing an actual cattle car. I feel like that really put it into perspective about how dehumanizing it was for all those people to fit into that small thing. I think it really made it easier to understand for me.”
“The biggest impact on me was being able to go to a place that’s much larger than where I am to learn about something so important. I’d like to thank the Foundation for this amazing experience.”
Cash Davis, Class of 2025