 Hi, how are you? Good, thank you. Thank you for having us. Yeah, well, thank you both so much. I want to thank Senator Lyons for bringing your work to my attention, as well as I want to thank the two of you for inviting me. And I think you're open to any senator coming this evening. Unfortunately, I cannot. So we thought that perhaps what we would do is have the two of you in today to talk a little bit about this incredible project that you have planned and a little bit of history about the project, as well as we want to share with you. And I think you know that we're also looking at a bill, a piece of legislation that is connected to the work that you're doing. So the floor is yours. Welcome to Senate Education. All we ask is that you just introduce yourselves, say maybe what town you're from, and then go from there. OK, so I don't have a presentation tonight just because I have been so insanely busy with everything that's happening. But thank you for having me. I'm Eliza Doucette. I am a student of Magdae, but I'm from South Stokesville around. I am at Doucette. She is my twin sister, so we have the same information. Great. So go ahead. Our event starts at six o'clock tonight. And it is in Bristol's Holly Hall. We will go over an educational presentation because I believe that not enough people have a clear understanding on the Holocaust and what's truly happened, which I think another point that the bill will hopefully help. And then following that, then we will move outside across the street to the Bristol Town Green, where we have a couple of speakers, and then there will be some readings and a candlelight vigil. Candlelighting and vigil. Wonderful. How did you become interested in doing this? So, while I'm not Jewish, we have seen anti-Semitism in our community, and I think that a lot of people don't address it, or they say that it's an older issue that is not a problem anymore. In reality, Jews are the oldest oppressed group in history, and anti-Semitism is at the highest. It's been the same as the late 1900s. And are you talking, will you talk about anti-Semitism with those numbers across throughout the world, or right now, are you thinking, right in the United States? In the US, okay. In the US. Yeah, so anti-Semitism is more prevalent than ever, and it needs to be addressed. So, because we don't trust that our school will teach people enough about it, that our community is educated enough, and we had to take it into our own hands, and we began to plan this event as a way to address it. Because I think that the first type of fighting heat and its bias is education. And I think that that brings us to this bill, S189. So we believe that it must be passed because education, as Liza said, is essential to fighting hate and ensuring that the Holocaust can never happen again. I see anti-Semitism around me pretty much every day. And simultaneously, I'm told that anti-Semitism doesn't exist anymore. And so, or that it wasn't real to begin with. Aynid, if students know about the Holocaust, they'll be less likely to harass people. And it will grow up as more responsible citizens by learning from the past that we can protect the present and the future. And as global citizens, it is our responsibility to educate ourselves in our community. Terrific. Before we open it up for questions, I'm wondering if you would say a few words about, well, first of all, what grade are you both in? We are sophomores, we're in 10th grade. Okay, so you're in 10th grade. And you've learned about the Holocaust through your family, and perhaps, you know, through extended family. But what about the formal education of the Holocaust? Has it been brought up in school? I mean, how is it being taught? Is it something you would have, like if it wasn't something that your family talked about, were there opportunities? Do you think when you may have learned about it, or has it been absent? I grew up from a very open family. And in my family, we've talked about these issues from a very young age that I've been around them. But I think that growing up, and it's going in the public school system, we never talked about it. And it even asked a small private school that I went to from 4th grade, sorry, from 5th grade to 8th grade. It wasn't talked about very often. At Mounted, now that I'm at Mounted, we spent about a week on the Holocaust, and we did talk about it. And yet, I found myself shocked at the way that my teacher believed that he was doing something so special by teaching the Holocaust. It should be normal and expected that they teach the Holocaust, not something that my teacher thinks that he is amazing for doing, because that is the bare minimum. And it also shocked me how he continued to make Holocaust comparisons, and genuinely didn't seem as educated as he could have been on the topic. And I think that proves that if a history teacher can tell, not necessarily know what he needs to, to be able to effectively teach a body of students, that's just proving that we need change. I think throughout elementary school, my teachers would always ask me about Hanukkah, come in and tell us about Hanukkah, like the menorah for us, show us the food. But it was always, it was like they were, it was like people were taking advantage of my Judaism, and never teaching the real history. The real history is ugly. It doesn't make a nice story in a classroom. But it's essential. I think that in this society, we do sometimes talk about having these uncomfortable conversations, but we don't often have them. And the Holocaust is something that must be talked about it, about because 11 million people died, 11 million people with families and their futures just gone, an entire culture decimated. And it's not pretty, it is not fun history, it is uncomfortable to talk about, it is painful. And if that is exactly the reason that we need to be educated on it. Thank you both. Questions, Senator Lyons, please. Well, first, I wanna say thank you to Eliza for sending the email in the first place. And you have a good friend to help you. And just a couple of questions and then a comment, but are you still having your vigil today in Bristol? Yes. So it's at six o'clock? Yeah, yes. I'm sorry, I cannot be there. And I know that you two are putting together something that is going to be very meaningful for your friends, your families and for your community. So I have to say how very proud I am of the work that you're doing. And I'm thrilled that you reached out about this. Thank you. So, and I completely agree with you about the very seriousness and the emotional involvement that we all have when we think about the Holocaust. And I don't know if you two have had the experience of going to Washington DC to the Holocaust Museum. Have you done that yet? No, we have not. We really want to. You know, that's actually an interesting comment to say on a school trip, we went to a lot of important historical museums, but the Holocaust Museum was never talked about when we went to DC. I believe it was mentioned once after a long day among other museums as an option, but it did not happen and it was not in our plan. Just a quick note, sorry about the shifting lighting, my dog is being with the curtains behind me. So. Oh, we like that. We like dogs. Yeah, we like dogs. Yeah. You know, I just, I do hope that one day you'll be able to get there. It is one of the most powerful things that I've ever done. And I was able to go when there were very few people at the museum and just having the experience of going in the museum, I won't spoil it for you, but it is a very, very powerful day. So you need to take some time. And I just, just thank you for what you're doing. It isn't a matter of raising the Holocaust above other historical events, but it's making it equal with those things that are so powerful in our history. So thank you. Thank you for your work. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. And I just, I'll share with you, perhaps, I don't know, have you read Night Train or any of L.A. Viesel's? Yeah. Yeah. Those are powerful also. They're very powerful. They truly are. I was so fortunate to meet and visit with L.A. Viesel and over lunch and dinner when he came to visit our college. So I'm glad you're reading his books because they show what's happened to people at a very personal level. So when we talk, yeah, yeah. It definitely has, it's definitely changes your perspective on things. Powerful, yeah. Thank you. And have fun tonight. Is that fun? That is fun. It really is. It's fulfilling what you're doing. I hope that you really feel rewarded by what you're doing today. Thank you. Thanks. It would be good to see it all come together. Other questions or comments for Eliza or Emma? Is there anything that Centerline's comment about having read Night? Is there anything in particular that the two of you would recommend to people your age or any age that you've read or experienced through reading or visually that has really brought the Holocaust to a very personal and sort of transformative level. Right. So while I was working on getting everything together for this event, then somebody sent over the link to this website. I forget, I think it's connected to maybe the Holocaust Museum or something I can't remember to be honest exactly. And there was this list of biographies of just like hundreds of different Holocaust survivors and victims of all ages. There was talk of kids younger than I was who were gassed. And at that, for me, it just sent shivers down my spine and it really hit me hard. And then I also say a couple of years ago, I read a lesser known book called I Will Plant Your Lilac Tree and it's a memoir that talks about a girl who basically was unknowingly chose to go into concentration camps to be with her family. And I think that really affected me because it's graphically described as the horrors of the Holocaust. I think there's also a book, I'm linking on what it's called. It's from the author project, I'm not sure. Okay, there's also a book I read. Unfortunately, I cannot remember what it's called, but it shows a boy who went through probably through 10 different concentration camps and survived it, the only one of his family. Well, as you're, if you happen to remember, please share that with us. And anything else that you think we should know that we may not have covered today and you're not thinking about but you may think of this evening during the service or another day, please keep in touch with us. And we really appreciate as Senator Lyons, I know I'm speaking for all of us, we're all very proud of you and grateful for what you're doing and look forward to keeping in touch as we make our way through this bill. Yeah, for sure, and thank you. You'll have my email, so you are welcome to make out at any time. Thank you for having us. Thank you for letting us speak today. Thank you so much. All right. Okay, have a nice evening, have a good evening. Thank you, take care. You too.