Bringing History to Life
The great-granddaughter of Holocaust survivors teaches a Holocaust Studies class at Hagerty High School, the only course of its kind in Seminole County
When Hagerty High School in Oviedo sought to add academic electives to its curriculum three years ago, a social studies teacher with deeply personal ties to the Holocaust made a bold proposal.
“I wanted to teach the Holocaust to help students not only understand what it was all about, but also learn the basics of Judaism and what a Jewish person is,” says Megan Thompson, the great-granddaughter of Holocaust survivors.
Megan felt it was important to add Holocaust Studies as an elective, in part because world history classes generally dedicate just one to two days to the topic due to the sheer volume of material that must be covered in those courses.
However, Megan wasn’t sure there would be enough interest to move forward with the Holocaust Studies class. Hagerty doesn’t have a large Jewish population, she says, noting that some students have never met a Jewish person and don’t have much knowledge about the Holocaust – the genocide of six million European Jews during World War II.
“The students have heard of concentration camps and [Holocaust victim] Anne Frank, but that’s about it for the most part,” says Megan. “I needed 40 kids to sign up, so I was a bit nervous.”
To Megan’s surprise, 75 students registered for the class, which was enough to fill two periods. An honors course that meets three times a week, the elective carries a half year of honors credits.
Holocaust Studies – the only class of its kind in Seminole County Public Schools – covers a period from the end of World War I to the creation of the nation of Israel, from about 1919 to 1948. Megan explains how the Holocaust was not limited to Nazi Germany and covers the rise of antisemitism almost two decades before World War II.
She delves into the occupations of France, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Eastern European nations, where Jews were targeted, expelled, and systematically exterminated. Megan also talks about others who were ostracized, including homosexuals and the homeless.
“The students enrolled in Holocaust Studies are so passionate and excited to learn. They are always surprised. They always learn something.” – Megan Thompson, Hagerty High School Teacher
A Sad Reality
“While they are fascinated by the material,” says Megan, “they do tell me it’s sad. I tell them it is sad. They are surprised to find out how purposely targeted and designed the Holocaust was, and they don’t understand why people didn’t stand up and stop them.”
Zoey Jenkins, a rising sophomore, signed up for the class because she loves history but soon realized she would learn about much more than the past.
“I knew nothing about Jewish people and their lives,” she says. “It is so interesting. This was my favorite high-school class.”
Zoey acknowledges some of the material is upsetting but believes the Holocaust is a topic everyone should be studying.
“It is not a happy thing to talk about, but it is real,” she says. “The benefits of learning about it far outweigh the sadness you feel. This really did happen, so there is no reason to gloss over it. Not only did it happen, but it could happen again. History repeats itself, but we can fix that if we understand how something happened.”
Beyond the Classroom
To complement the curriculum, Megan takes her students on field trips to The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida, located in Maitland. There, the teens recently explored Stories We Were Never Told, an exhibit that provides an in-depth look at the racial cleansing in Bulgaria during the Holocaust.
Megan also utilizes survivor testimony to bring historical subject matter to life. She invited Suzanne Schneider, a Polish Holocaust survivor from Winter Park, to Hagerty during Holocaust Education Week this past November to share her true and remarkable journey. Megan’s pupils were among the 700 students who filled the school’s auditorium to listen to Suzanne’s talk.
The Holocaust Studies syllabus also includes a section on modern-day antisemitism. For that segment, students are asked to conduct a presentation on how they see antisemitism today, including through social media posts and personal experiences. The class will be offered again during the 2026-2027 academic year; 80 students have already signed up.
“Teaching an elective can be challenging,” says Megan, “but the students enrolled in Holocaust Studies are so passionate and excited to learn. They are always surprised. They always learn something.”