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DANVILLE — Thanks to one of the area’s most generous givers, every school in Vermilion County received a batch of books this week.
Danville resident Sybil Mervis worked with the Vermilion County Regional Office of Education and the Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation to fund providing trunks full of Holocaust educational material throughout the county.
“She’s a former teacher and she’s always been into reading,” said Kevin Thomas, principal at Georgetown-Ridge Farm High School. “Her commitment to education continues through this donation.”
The Community Foundation of East Central Illinois and the Lumpkin Family Foundation also helped make the donation possible, alongside the Mervis Family Foundation.
Georgetown-Ridge Farm received its books Thursday, and Thomas said they’ll be implemented starting next semester for sophomore history courses.
In total, Mervis’ donation provided 48 trunks of books aimed at the fifth, eighth and 10th grades, which also included a movie and other resources.
The trunks were created by the C-U Jewish Federation’s Holocaust Education Center in response to an Illinois state mandate for Holocaust and genocide studies in schools.
Books in the trunks include “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank, “Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution” by Christopher Browning and “Mapping the Bones” by Jane Yolen.
“It’ll help students learn with sensitivity, accuracy and respect because, you know, this is a subject that the kids need to understand,” Thomas said. “It’s one thing to learn from a history book and to look online and see information about it, but to have a book in your hand and just really get into that information and read about it, I think it’s big for our kids.”
While he can’t say exactly how teachers will use the resources just yet, Thomas said the variety of books could open them up to several options, though his first thought was essay writing.
“I’m sure the teacher’s mind is already working,” Thomas said.
While his school does receive donations for various programs, Thomas said this curriculum enhancer would likely be the largest.
“When you think education, you want to find different ways to make sure you’re educating your kids, and this is a great way to do it,” he said. “This is huge for us.”
