LHS teacher travels to U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

Dr. John Collins, a ninth-grade American History teacher at Liberty High School in the MVBT R-III School District in Mountain View, Missouri, tackled tough history this summer. Dr. Collins participated in an intensive Holocaust education program, called KC to DC, sponsored by the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education (MCHE).

 

The highlight of KC to DC was a trip to tour the exhibitions at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Educators in the 2026 cohort engaged in eleven hours of virtual classroom learning taught by the MCHE team and completed an intensive guided self-study assignment on Holocaust history.

 

The goals of the KC to DC program are to increase educators' historical knowledge, instructional skills, and connections to MCHE's team and resources. Another goal is to foster supportive relationships among the teachers themselves.

As Dr. Collins returns to Liberty High School this year, he will be better able to implement effective and meaningful Holocaust lessons for his ninth-grade students. Dr. Collins also serves as adjunct faculty at Southwest Baptist University, where he helps prepare future teachers, giving the experience an added reach into the next generation of educators.

 

“I am honored and humbled by this opportunity. Walking through the exhibits at USHMM, and seeing first hand the artifacts and stories from the Holocaust deepened my own understanding and allowed me to be able to connect faces, stories, and lives with what I had only before read about in books. This educational experience truly changed the way I will teach this history by adding a layer of depth I would have not otherwise had. KC to DC gave me the vocabulary, the primary sources, and the historical grounding to help my students see individuals, not just statistics. I'm grateful to bring these resources home to my classroom at Liberty High School and to the future teachers I work with at SBU, so that this history is taught with the care and personal elements it deserves.”

 

KC to DC is funded through the generous support of Sam Devinki, whose parents were Holocaust survivors Fred and Maria Devinki. The program will be on hiatus while USHMM renovates its permanent exhibition during 2027 and 2028. KC to DC will restart in 2029.

 

Visit the MCHE website at www.mchekc.org for more information about professional development for educators, programs for students, and programs for the community.