Santa Paula High School educator Megan Hernandez heads to Auschwitz on teaching fellowship

Megan Hernandez, a Santa Paula High School teacher, found her love for history growing up learning about her grandpa's experiences fighting in World War II.

"I have always loved history," she said. "And hearing his stories, I love to learn about it, especially through him. He was my No. 1 supporter throughout my life. My lifelong best friend."

This school year, Hernandez will be one of 40 teachers from around the United States selected to participate in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation Fellowship. This yearlong program includes a weeklong trip to Poland.

High school educators teaching English, history, social studies or related subjects who have not visited Auschwitz-Birkenau are eligible to apply to the program. In 2024, selected fellows are joining the program from Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Southern California, Colorado, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and Connecticut.

Hernandez, 37, has been a Santa Paula High School teacher for over a year and teaches several classes of world history, including Advanced Placement European history, to sophomores as well as an academic support elective AVID class to freshman.

The history teacher grew up in Ventura. During her own time in high school, she said she fell behind and didn't do well. Right out of school, she became a hairstylist and worked around Ventura County for about five years before deciding to change careers and going to Oxnard College.

She recalled her first class at the college with Professor Kevin Hughes who taught history in a way that made her like she "was there" to witness it.

"I was just like if I would have had this in high school, maybe I would have learned more. So, I was just inspired to become a teacher through him," she said.

About 13 years ago, she moved from Ventura to Santa Paula to be closer to her grandfather, Arthur LeValley. He died in 2016 at almost 99 years old. She was one of his primary caretakers near the end.

"He always kind of sheltered me from the bad stuff when I was really little, but towards the end of his life, he started telling me a little bit more about his experience overseas," she said. "I have recordings on recordings of hearing him talk. I've been interested in archiving them because there's only so many people who experienced World War II left."

She later moved to other cities in the county for work and personal reasons but found her way back to Santa Paula last year. She lives in her grandfather's home with her husband now.

At Santa Paula High School, Hernandez also leads the AVID Club and is the sophomore class adviser. Nancy Nasr, assistant principal at Santa Paula High School, said that Hernandez has a solid rapport with her students and is "almost like the mama bird in the classroom."

"Seeking opportunities to get up close and personal with history so that she can come back and bring that to her students speaks volumes about the type of educator that she is," Nasr said.

The fellowship includes an online program of coursework on the Holocaust and traveling to Poland this summer to visit Krakow and Warsaw as well as the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The immersive visit is meant to elevate Hernandez's understanding of the Holocaust.

When she comes back, the history teacher is expected to use her new experience and fellowship resources, including a documentary movie, a specially designed curriculum and access to guided remote tours of Auschwitz-Birkenau to prepare lessons for her students.

"Megan has impressed us with her depth of understanding of the gravity of the Holocaust, its meaning in world history, its lessons for humanity, and her commitment to teach this material to her students," Maria Zalewska, executive director for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation, said in an emailed statement.

The New York-based foundation works to preserve the remains of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp as well as to promote education about the site during the Holocaust as the largest German Nazi concentration camp.

Previous experiences also impacted Hernandez's commitment to learn more about the Holocaust. She recalled visiting the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in Simi Valley when she chaperoned students to attend a talk by Holocaust survivor David Lenga on Holocaust Remembrance Day in April 2023.

The talk came with the opening of a new exhibit presenting Holocaust artifacts from around the world titled, "Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away."

"I just cried pretty much the entire time of his story," she said. "It was heartbreaking to hear what happened to him."

She saw that the students were affected, too.

"My students, they were just shocked to hear how children were treated, because (Lenga) started off his journey as a child, and they were just about their age," she said. Lenga died in January at age 96.

Dua Anjum is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at dua.anjum@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation's Fund to Support Local Journalism.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Santa Paula High School teacher earns Auschwitz fellowship