Emunah recognises Holocaust educator

DALIA SABLE

EDUCATOR and director of the March of the Living (MOTL) program Sue Hampel  will be recognised by Emunah Aviv with a dinner in her honour next week.

Hampel, who has been a teacher at Mount Scopus Memorial College for 30 years, received the recognition for her “outstanding contribution to eduction and awareness of the Holocaust through the MOTL”.

“It is very nice and special that people acknowledge and recognise the work I am doing,” Hampel told The AJN.

For Hampel, 30 years in the teaching profession, and specifically at Mount Scopus, has been more than “just a job”.

“The most wonderful thing about teaching is seeing that lightbulb go off in students’ eyes,” she said. “It sounds cliche but I can’t think of a better, more rewarding profession than teaching. I love coming to work every day.”

Hampel, who developed the Holocaust studies program at Mount Scopus, also tutors the subject at Monash University and Jewish adult education network The Florence Melton Adult Mini-School. She is also currently completing her Masters degree in Holocaust and Genocide studies. As part of this unit of investigation, Hampel recently travelled to Rwanda with a group from Monash University and she plans to return to the impoverished nation at the first opportunity to volunteer in teacher training.

Hampel is also a recipient of the National Council of Jewish Women’s Sylvia Gelman award for outstanding Victorian, female educator in the field of Jewish studies.

All proceeds from the dinner, to be held on Sunday August 30 at Lincoln of Toorak, will go toward Emunah Aviv’s crisis centre for abused children in Israel.