Life in a Jar/The Irena Sendler Project

"I want to teach today's youth about tolerance education, a legacy I gained from unsung Holocaust heroine Irena Sendler," says Megan Stewart-Felt, founding cast member of the award-winning student play "Life in a Jar." I played a key role in developing this play, and I continue to perform the play to school, civic and religious groups throughout the country. Promoting tolerance education concepts of respect and understanding, “Life in a Jar” portrays Irena Sendler’s heroic rescue of over 2,500 Jewish children during the Holocaust. Although today's students are far removed from the horrors of the Holocaust, which were perpetrated through racism and prejudice, I see the need to teach tolerance of diverse populations in our multicultural world. Students need to learn respect and understanding of different groups of people not only as a core value, but also as a core interpersonal skill necessary in many work environments today. My mission is to use project-based learning in teaching K-12 students the importance of respecting and understanding diverse populations. To accomplish this mission, I work with students not only in my small, non-diverse community, but also throughout America, Canada, Germany, Ireland, and Poland, guiding them in developing projects of unsung heroes whose actions have promoted cultural awareness and respect. I would like to further this work through a service-learning project where students present their projects to school, civic and religious groups.