Here at Van Buren, our teachers go to great lengths to help students learn content that will be valuable to their academic growth, but they also want to contribute to our students becoming good citizens. An example of this is Ms. Chelsea Burden, who teaches high school social studies and is the district librarian.
In July 2025, Burden headed to Poland on a trip fully funded by a grant from the Auschwitz Legacy Fellowship (no cost to our district) to tour the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, Warsaw, and Krakow to learn first-hand about the inhumane brutalities which took place during the Holocaust (see the Knight Insight “High School Teachers Headed to Europe” from 1.14.25 for more information). Prior to the trip, she had emphasized her goal of bringing her experiences back to her students and others to make the world a better place, and she is following through on that goal.
One of the many steps she has taken toward achieving that goal took place on March 7, 2026, when Burden, as part of the work of the University of Kentucky-Jewish Heritage Fund’s (UK-JHF) Holocaust Education Initiative, hosted a workshop titled “Teaching the Holocaust: Culture, Context, & Care” for fifteen local educators. The workshop focused on topics including Jewish culture, the history of antisemitism, using Holocaust literature and paired texts, survivors’ stories, and a timeline activity.
The workshop was the culmination of work Burden has been doing since her trip last summer. After returning home from Poland, she spent three days in Lexington, KY, completing a post-trip orientation to prepare her to bring what she had learned back to her classroom and other educators in NW Ohio. She has also been participating in twice-monthly Zoom seminars in preparation for a presentation she will be making in May where she will discuss other victims of the Holocaust.
As the first teacher from Ohio to participate in the UK-JHF program, she is also leading the drive to get other Ohio teachers involved. Burden said, “Based on the impact traveling to Poland had on me, I want to help other Ohio social studies teachers get involved so they can also experience the magnitude of what took place and bring that knowledge back to their students.”
Reflecting on her own experience after the trip, she said, “Visiting Auschwitz and the other sites we visited in Poland definitely helped me bring even more emotion into the classroom. I was able to witness the place where these atrocities occurred, and my experience in Poland has influenced the activities I have students complete in class.”
In addition to sharing trip pictures and stories with students, Burden also took nine students from her Holocaust class to the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center in Cincinnati on March 9 (Click to view the Facebook post about the field trip). Students toured the exhibit “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away.” to see artifacts from Auschwitz, which made what they were learning in class even more meaningful.
Finally, Burden also recorded a video podcast about her trip, which anyone can access. If any teachers are interested in getting involved with UK-JHF, they can contact Burden to get started.
It is clear Ms. Burden is a leader when it comes to the academic and civic development of our students. We appreciate her modeling the value of continuous learning through this experience and then sharing her knowledge with our students and other educators for the benefit of everyone.
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