Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
AUGUSTA — Students from Erskine Academy and Gray-New Gloucester High School, and a Richmond teacher, will be among the honorees at the 29th meeting of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine on Sunday, June 11.
The event honors students and individuals in Maine who are doing outstanding work in the fields of Holocaust and human rights awareness and education, according to a news release from the organization.
The program will be from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, June 11, at the Woodlands Club in Falmouth. The luncheon will include the presentation of the HHRC’s annual student and community member awards, programs and special events.
Gabe Gervais, of Chelsea, a senior at Erskine Academy in South China, will receive the Lawrence Alan Spiegel Remembrance Scholarship. Gervais, a senior, plans to attend the College of the Holy Cross, in Worcester, Mass., in the fall.
Sam Clermont, a senior at Gray-New Gloucester High School is this year’s Mathilda Schlossberger Outstanding High School Student of the Year.
Gary Carter, a literacy teacher at both Richmond Middle and High schools, is one of the recipients of the Holocaust Professional Development Grant.
The other recipient of the Holocaust Professional Development Grant is Sarah Bailey, a history teacher at South Portland High School.
Also honored was Julia Pols, an eighth-grader at Brunswick Junior High School, who was named the Mathilda Schlossberger Outstanding Middle School Student of the Year.
The HHRC will present the Gerda Haas Award for Excellence in Human Rights Education and Leadership to Pious Ali, who is the first African-born Muslin to be elected to public office in Maine.
A Youth and Community Engagement Specialist at the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service, Ali earlier worked with the city of Portland’s refugee services and spent many summers working as a facilitator for Seeds of Peace. He was elected to Portland’s Board of Public Education in 2013 and City Council in 2016. He is also the founder and executive director of the Maine Interfaith Youth Alliance and co-founded the King Fellows, a Portland-based youth group dedicated to creating meaningful opportunities for youth through leadership and civic engagement based on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
The HHRC will also recognize Holocaust survivor Edith Lucas Pagelson, and human rights activist and educator Reza Jalali.
The suggested donation for individual tickets is $40 and $375 for a table of 10. For more information, call the HHRC at 621-3530.
