Introduction

     Facing History and Ourselves is a course that focuses on genocide and crimes against humanity in history.  In Facing History we look in depth at historical events such as The Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, the Jim Crow Era, and the injustice done towards the Native Americans during the United States’s period of expansion.  All of these events have a common theme, injustice and crimes against humanity.  Through studying these events, your impact on the world and the importance of your choices and actions are illuminated.  We also watched many films and read many readings that predicated upon discrimination and the dangers of ignorance.  This course exposes the appalling amount of cruelty, hatred, and discrimination that is present in the world.  In this class you are educated about what it means to be a victim, a bystander, a rescuer, and a fighter.  It is a class that will cause you to question your identity and often leave you horrified by the material that you study.  I chose to take this course because I am someone who is very active in clubs that are centralized around social justice.  The humanitarian and global awareness aspects of this class are what drew me to it.  

     I am a high school senior and will be attending Washington University in St. Louis in the fall.  I hope to study medicine while there, with a focus on global health and humanitarian aid.  I am someone who has always had an intense desire to help others and I plan to do this through becoming a doctor and eventually starting my own free clinic in an impoverished area of the world.