by George J Elbaum

The Cavelero Mid High School’s enrollment of 1464 students in grades 8 – 9 is quite diverse, with 65% White, 16% Hispanic, 11% two or more races, 5% Asian, 2% Black, and 1% all other, with 26% of students from low income families.  Students/teacher ratio is 22:1 vs. 18:1 state average.

The school’s GreatSchools.org  Summary Rating is 5/10 (state average) with 7/10 for Student Test Scores: English 55% vs 53%, Math 35% vs 41%, Science 50% vs 49%.  Student Progress is rated “average”, so that students at this school are making average academic progress given where they were last year, compared to similar students in the state. 

My presentation on the Holocaust was requested and organized by teacher Lara Ashby for a class of 30 8th graders who will have studied the following: Universe of Obligation and Survivor Voices, Pyramid of Hate, anti-Semitism, Pre-War Jewish Life, Propaganda, the rise of the Nazis, Diary of Anne Frank, Maus 1, and the actions by Irena Sendler, and Nicholas Winton. Students will also be completing a research project at the end of the current unit.

My presentation was arranged by Lexi Jason, Education Program Manager of Seattle’s Holocaust Center for Humanity with technical support by the Center’s volunteer Dom Delino.