Nine Seton Hill students, accompanied by Dr. Michael Cary, professor of political science/history, will spend May 22 – 29 traveling through Poland visiting Holocaust monuments, memorials, and the remains of former death camps, including Auschwitz, Majdanek and Treblinka. The students from Seton Hill will be part of a group of approximately 500 students from around the world participating in the March of Remembrance and Hope, a student leadership program. Seton Hill’s participation in the March of Remembrance and Hope is coordinated by the University’s National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE). This will be the third time the NCCHE has helped send a student group from this area on the March; in 2005 the NCCHE recruited a group of Catholic educators from around the United States to participate in a special trip to Poland.

The students who will be taking the trip this year are doing so for a variety of reasons. Cara Daley, Katie Manni and Megan Ritter are researching an honors project on genocide. Chance Branam, a history major and future high school teacher, believes that visiting such sites personally (after studying about them) will “lend credibility” to his teaching. Neha Bawa became interested after volunteering as an intern for two years in the NCCHE offices, and Alicia Bradley feels that the experience will support her studies in psychology and sociology.

The Seton Hill students have all taken part in pre-trip educational sessions conducted by Dr. Cary and the NCCHE, to help prepare them for both the intellectual and emotional challenges of the journey. They will also attend a day long orientation in New Jersey prior to flying to Poland, where they will meet students from other countries who will be joining them. While in Poland, they will meet Holocaust survivors who will also share their journey, and will share their personal experiences with the students.

“The March of Remembrance and Hope is an outstanding educational experience that profoundly emphasizes the common humanity we all share and the priceless dignity we all deserve,” said Sr. Lois Sculco, NCCHE administrator and a former participant in the March, and vice president for administration and student life at Seton Hill. “Only by honoring the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, and by understanding the roots of prejudice – in others and ourselves – and seeing its catastrophic results, can we hope to build a better world for all.”

Students participating in the March of Remembrance and Hope are: Neha Bawa, a senior literature major from Southington, Conn.; Alicia Bradley, a junior psychology major from Allison Park, Pa.; Chance Branam, a senior history and secondary education major from Somerset, Pa.; Cara Daley, a junior pre-law, criminal justice and Spanish major from Erie, Pa.; Sarah Danko, a sophomore theatre performance major from Latrobe, Pa.; Katie Manni, a sophomore dietetics major from Atlasburg, Pa.; Ashley McKoy, a junior music performance major from Greensburg, Pa.; Bonnie Peperak, a senior psychology and elementary education major from Connellsville, Pa. and Megan Ritter, a sophomore history and secondary education major from Westminster, Md.

The purpose of the March of Remembrance and Hope is to teach students of different religious and ethnic backgrounds about the dangers of intolerance through the study of the Holocaust, and to promote better relations among people of diverse cultures. For more information, visit www.remembranceandhope.com.

The National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE) was established on the campus of Seton Hill University in 1987. Seton Hill initiated this national Catholic movement toward Holocaust studies, in response to the urging of Pope John Paul II to recognize the significance of the Shoah, the Holocaust, and to "promote the necessary historical and religious studies on this event which concerns the whole of humanity today." The NCCHE has as its primary purpose the broad dissemination of scholarship on the root causes of anti-Semitism, its relation to the Holocaust and the implications from the Catholic perspective of both for today's world. Toward this end the Center is committed to equipping scholars, especially those at Catholic institutions, to enter into serious discussion on the causes of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust; shaping appropriate curricular responses at Catholic institutions and other educational sites; sustaining Seton Hill's Catholic Institute for Holocaust Studies in Israel through a cooperative program with Yad Vashem, the Isaac Jacob Institute for Religious Law and Hebrew University; encouraging scholarship and research through conferences, publications, workshops for educators, and similar activities; sponsoring local events on the Holocaust and related topics in the University and the community and enhancing Catholic-Jewish relations.

Seton Hill University, chartered in 1918, is a coeducational Catholic liberal arts university in Greensburg, Pa. with more than 30 undergraduate programs and eight graduate programs, including an MBA. Seton Hill brings the world to its students through its distinguished lecturers and nationally and internationally renowned centers. Recognized three times by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the nation’s Top 100 Entrepreneurial Universities, Seton Hill has also been named one of the Best in the Northeast by The Princeton Review and one of Pennsylvania’s Top 100 Businesses by Pennsylvania Business Central. In addition, Seton Hill has been named a University of Distinction by Colleges of Distinction, an organization founded by a group of concerned parents, educators and admissions professionals. For more information on Seton Hill please visit www.setonhill.edu or call 1-800-826-6234.

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Contacts:

Wilda Kaylor, Associate Director of the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education
724-830-1033/ kaylor@setonhill.edu

Becca Baker, Associate Director of Media Relations
724-830-1069/724-689-3599 (cell)/ bbaker@setonhill.edu