Our Founder
Carolina Simon has been educating people of all ages about the Holocaust, American History, injustice, civil rights, respect, civility, and Tolerance for more than 20 years. After receiving her B.A. in Hispanic Studies from Loyola University New Orleans she was accepted into the University of Texas at Dallas for their M.A. in Humanities (Literary Studies) program where she graduated having focused on Holocaust and Ethnic literature. Throughout her education she studied under the direct instruction of professors such as Dr. Blanca Anderson, Dr. Cynthia Haynes and Dr. Zsuzsanna Ozsvath, all who significantly helped shape her teaching style. In 2006 her students from Miami Central Senior High School created an African American story quilt telling the story of Tolerance after having read Night by Elie Wiesel and having visited the Museum of Jewish History in Miami Beach. The quilt today is part of the museum's Mosaics collection. In 2010, she began the annual Interfaith Yom Hashoah event at Florida Memorial University (an HBCU), In 2018 she headed the first year-long Holocaust program in a middle school and inaugurated the Harold & Judy Simon Holocaust Memorial Butterfly Garden at Logger's Run Middle School, inspiring her Holocaust memorial butterfly garden initiative. She has seen how students in their formative years, particularly in grades 8-10 develop empathy, embrace diversity, and become productive leaders in their communities as a result of her programs. Since 2006 she has received several awards for her teaching of the Holocaust including an Alfred Lerner Fellowship from The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous and most recently the Gutterman Family Excellence in Holocaust Education Award. She is the sole author of Beyond Auschwitz: Holocaust & Human Rights for the 21st Century (Teacher's edition and student workbook). In addition to her work with Zachor Shoah, she is the Director of Education for We Dared to Live and an active member of the Junior League.
