For more information, please contact our Executive Director Alysa Ullman:

aullman@citizenshipcounts.org

or visit our website:

www.citizenshipcounts.org.

President Barack Obama presents Jewish Holocaust survivor Gerda WeissmannKlein, a 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom, Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011, during aceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington.Associated PressA fitting award for a remarkable life

Klein, Buffett honored withPresidential Medal of FreedomHolocaust survivor Klein wins Medal of Freedomfor decades of good worksBy Jerry Zremski

Published:February 15, 2011, 5:48 PM3 Comments

0

Updated: February 16, 2011, 12:30 PM

WASHINGTON -- When the White House called, Gerda Klein laughed.

"I know you think this is a very funny joke," she said to the White House staffercongratulating her on President Obama's behalf, "but I'm an old lady with a weakheart."

The Buffalo News

It was no joke. Klein, a Holocaust survivor and author who spent most of her adultlife in the Buffalo area, really had won the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

And on Tuesday, surrounded by honorees such as former President George H.W.Bush, billionaire Warren Buffett and poet Maya Angelou, Obama explained howGerda Weissmann Klein earned the nation's highest civilian honor.

"As an author, a historian and a crusader for tolerance, she has taught the world thatit is often in our most hopeless moments that we discover the extent of our strengthand the depth of our love," Obama said.

Moments later, Klein appeared to be fighting off tears as Obama draped the medalaround her neck.

Klein's award, at age 86, caps a remarkable life that could have ended nearly sevendecades ago in a Nazi prison camp.

Before she turned 21, Gerda Weissmann had survived six years under Nazi rule, threeof them in concentration camps, Obama noted. She lost her parents to the Nazis andwatched her best friend die in her arms during a 350-mile death march.

But finally, in May 1945, American troops found her in an abandoned bicycle factoryin Czechoslovakia. She weighed only 68 pounds at the time.

Before long, she fell in love with Kurt Klein, the soldier who rescued her. Theymarried in Paris and moved to Buffalo, and there, Klein remembered -- and wrote -- astory that has inspired generations.

In a classic memoir called "All But My Life" and a lifetime of writings since, Klein hasdelivered a message that the president quoted Tuesday: "I pray you never stand atany crossroads in your own lives. But if you do, if the darkness seems so total, if youthink there is no way out, remember, never ever give up."

Klein won the honor not just because of her writing, but because of her lifetime ofgood works.

She and her husband established a foundation to promote tolerance and respectamong young people throughout the world, and in 2008, she formed CitizenshipCounts, a nonprofit aimed at educating youngsters about the rights andresponsibilities of citizenship.

"By sharing her stories and encouraging others to see themselves in one another,Gerda Klein has helped to advance understanding among all people," an announcersaid as Obama draped the Medal of Freedom around her neck.

Of course, Klein had come to accept the reality of it all much earlier, back during thatfirst phone call from the White House.

"When I came to realize that I had really won this, it was like an out-of-bodyexperience," she said in an interview the day before the award ceremony. "How it

came about, I have no idea."

Winning the award was a shock, too, to Buffett, the legendary investor whosecompany, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., owns The Buffalo News.

Asked about his reaction to the White House ceremony, Buffett said: "Well, you pinchyourself, basically. This is not what you expect."

Obama told the story of how, at age 11, Buffett saw his first stock investment turnbad. And at the time, Buffett acknowledged, "I didn't think it would end up like this."

Such moments of amazement played themselves out in the White House's East Roomthroughout the ceremony.

Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights hero, stood stone-faced and dignified as the firstAfrican-American president presented him the Medal of Freedom, but some in thecrowd wiped away tears. And Sylvia Mendez, a Latina civil rights pioneer, weptopenly as Obama gave her the award.

The winners came from the full range of public life. From the world of sports camebasketball great Bill Russell and baseball slugger Stan Musial, clad in a Cardinal-redblazer.

From the world of art came cutting-edge painter Jasper Johns and cellist Yo Yo Ma,who rarely stopped smiling throughout the ceremony.

Other winners included Natural Resources Defense Council founder John H. Adams,former ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith and former AFL-CIO PresidentJohn J. Sweeney.

Obama presented the award posthumously to Dr. Tom Little, an optometrist inAfghanistan for three decades who was murdered by the Taliban last year. GermanChancellor Angela Merkel also won, but was not able to attend the ceremony.

As for Klein, she had Buffalo on her mind on the eve of the ceremony. Though shemoved to Scottsdale, Ariz., in the mid-1980s, she said she still visits Buffalo regularlyand will always consider it her home.

"Everything I do is to pay back this country for what it has given me," she said. "Andit all really starts with Buffalo."

jzremski@buffnews.com

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Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Kleinspreads love for her adopted landBy Rubén Rosario Updated: 01/28/2011 12:37:13 PM CST

Though she lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., Gerda Weissmann Kleinknows cold. She grew up in Poland. She knows the cold ofdepraved inhumanity and six brutal years of forced Nazi laborduring the Holocaust. She lived in Buffalo, N.Y., for many yearswith her late husband, Kurt Klein, the German-born U.S. soldierwho liberated her and others.

Cold weather "doesn't bother me," Klein, 86, told me over thephone before flying here Wednesday night to speak to studentsat St. Paul Academy and Summit School on Friday. She's alsothe guest of honor at two citizenship swearing-in ceremoniesthis Saturday at the Mall of America.

"I still have my Buffalo coat," she said.

Cold weather? Please. That's small potatoes for a remarkablewoman and naturalized citizen who embodies Americanpatriotism.

I first learned about Klein by accident 15 years ago. It wasMarch 25, 1996 - Oscar night. I remember it because I don'tusually watch awards shows. I never took boredom for grantedafter director Kary Antholis accepted the Oscar for a short filmabout Gerda Klein's life. The music was playing as Kleinapproached the lectern. What she said that night was lump-in-the-throat memorable and considered one of the best Oscar moments of all time.

"I have been in a place for six incredible years where winning meant a crust of bread and to live another day," she toldthe Hollywood elite and a nation of viewers like myself.

"In my mind's eyes, I see those who never lived to see

the magic of a boring evening at home," she added. "Ontheir behalf, I wish to thank you for honoring theirmemory, and you cannot do it in any better way than ...when you return to your homes tonight to realize thateach of you who knows the joy of freedom are winners."

ALL FELLOW IMMIGRANTS

What brings Klein to town is her love for this country andher passionate belief that we are still great and willcontinue to be great precisely because we are a nationof immigrants in a land that still cherishes freedom.

Klein — who next month will receive from PresidentBarack Obama the Medal of Freedom, the nation'shighest civilian honor — knows and appreciates thisbetter than most. She founded Citizenship Counts, anonpartisan and nonprofit organization whose mission isto "educate students on the tenets of citizenship, inspiretheir pride in America and encourage them to participatein community service."

Several schools in Minnesota are using the citizenshipcurriculum designed by Alysa Ullman, the group's

executive director and Klein's granddaughter.

"With Minnesota being one of the more progressive states in terms of education and its high education ranking, we'vezeroed in on Minnesota as one of the key states to integrate our" program, Ullman said.

Klein is aware of the anti-immigrant fervor bubbling of late in the nation. She doesn't care for it.

"I do live in Arizona," she said.

But Klein is not about red or blue. She's about red, white and blue. As an immigrant who survived the Holocaust, she hasan unabashed love for her adopted country.

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"With the privilege of citizenship comes an obligation to help the country," she said. "This country remains strong becauseof its immigrants. Other than the Native Americans, we all came from somewhere else."

A 'MERCIFUL' MEETING

Her marriage to the man who liberated her is one of the more touching and inspirational love stories I've heard.

Kurt Klein grew up in Waldorf, Germany. He was among the thousands of children and youths sent away or overseas byJewish parents after Hitler and the Nazis seized power in the early 1930s. He was 17 when he arrived in New York Cityin 1937, two years before Hitler invaded Poland, where his future wife lived.

Gerda Weissmann, one of two siblings growing up in a middle-class family in Bielsko, Poland, remembers the first nightof bombings. The next day, she saw people yelling out "Heil Hitler" to German soldiers and swastika flags displayed onwindow ledges.

Her family was relocated to the city's ghetto. In 1942, she was "sold" as a slave and sent to work in a textile mill inBolkenhain in southwest Poland. Her parents and a brother, like Kurt Klein's parents, were shipped to Auschwitz. Neithersaw their family members again.

Then came a series of labor and concentration camps and a forced 350-mile "death march" in 1945 to an abandonedfactory in Volary, Czechoslovakia. Their captors fled after setting booby traps, leaving Gerda and about 149 other femalemarch survivors to die.

Then, on May 7, one day before her 21st birthday, Gerda, weighing 68 pounds and her hair gray from malnutrition,spotted a military vehicle approaching. This one did not have a swastika. It had a white star on the door.

Two soldiers got out. One of them was U.S. Army Lt. Kurt Klein. He asked Gerda to show him the other women inside thefactory.

"He held the door open for me and let me precede him, and in that gesture restored me to humanity," Gerda Weismannwould write later in her memoir, "All But My Life."

Kurt Klein encountered a scene of utter devastation — "walking skeletons" and others lying on scraps of straw, neardeath.

Then "my guide (Gerda) made a sweeping gesture and said some words that are indelible in my mind — 'Noble be man,merciful and good,' " he said in an interview. "And I recognized that as a line from a poem by the German poet Goethe.And to me, this was a devastating indictment of all that the Nazis had perpetrated on these women."

RECEIVING TWO HONORS

Gerda came to the United States in 1946 after the couple married in Paris. They settled in Buffalo and raised threechildren. The Kleins wrote books and spoke out about anti-Semitism and the horror of the Holocaust.

Kurt Klein died in 2002, but not before he and his wife established a foundation in 1998 to promote tolerance, communityservice and an end to bigotry and hunger.

"He was a great man and husband," she said.

She's thankful for the Medal of Freedom, which she will receive alongside fellow recipients Warren Buffett and basketballlegend Bill Russell at the White House.

This Saturday, she also will receive the "Outstanding American by Choice" award from U.S. Citizenship and ImmigrationServices director Alejandro Mayorkas.

But the best rewards, she told me, are speaking to schoolchildren and addressing groups such as the 80 children andadults from more than 36 countries who will take their citizenship oaths during two back-to-back ceremonies at the Mall ofAmerica.

"We have problems, like poverty, but we are the most generous nation in the world and one that has liberated and tried torestore freedom to other parts of the world," she said.

Rubén Rosario can be reached at 651-228-5454 or e-mail at rrosario@pioneerpress.com.

ONLINE

To learn more about Citizenship Counts, go to the group's website at citizenshipcounts.org.

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Announcing The 2010 Medal of Freedom RecipientsPosted by Kori Schulman on November 17, 2010 at 04:07 PM EDT

Today, President Obama named fifteen recipients of the 2010 Medal of Freedom -- the Nation’s highest civilian

honor -- presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national

interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

"These outstanding honorees come from a broad range of backgrounds and they’ve excelled in a broad range of

fields, but all of them have lived extraordinary lives that have inspired us, enriched our culture, and made our

country and our world a better place," said President Obama. "I look forward to awarding them this honor next

year."

The following individuals will receive the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom:

President George H. W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st President of the United States. Prior to that, he was Vice President in

the Reagan Administration, Director of Central Intelligence, Chief of the U.S. Liaison’s Office to the People’s

Republic of China, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and a Member of the House of Representatives from

the 7th District of Texas. He served in the Navy during World War II. President Bush and President Clinton

worked together to encourage aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.

Chancellor Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel is the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. She is the first woman and first East German

to serve as Chancellor of a unified Germany, which this year marks its 20th anniversary. She has often said that

freedom is the happiest experience of her life. Chancellor Merkel was born in Hamburg but was raised in what

was then Communist East Germany after her family moved to Templin. Her political career began when she

joined the new Democratic Awakening party in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1990, as West and East

Germany merged into one reunited country, her party joined with the Christian Democratic Union, and she was

elected to the German parliament. She has been chairman of the CDU since April 2000 and was recently

reelected to another term.

Congressman John Lewis

John Lewis is an American hero and a giant of the Civil Rights Movement. He served as chairman of the Student

Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), helped to organize the first lunch-counter sit-in in 1959 at the age of

19, and was the youngest speaker at the 1963 March on Washington. In May 1961, he participated in the initial

Freedom Ride, during which he endured violent attacks in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and Montgomery, Alabama.

In 1964, he helped to coordinate the Mississippi Freedom Project, and, in 1965, he led the Selma-to-Montgomery

march to petition for voting rights where marchers were brutally confronted in an incident that became known as

“Bloody Sunday.” Eight days later, President Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress, condemned the

violence in Selma, and called for passage of the Voting Rights Act, which was enacted within months. Since

1987, John Lewis has continued his service to the nation as the U.S. Representative for Georgia’s 5th District,

which encompasses all of Atlanta.

John H. Adams

John H. Adams co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council in 1970. Adams served as Executive

Director and, later, as president of the nonprofit environmental advocacy group until 2006. His tenure is

unparalleled by the leader of any other environmental organization. Rolling Stone writes: “If the planet has a

lawyer, it’s John Adams.”

Maya Angelou!!

Dr. Maya Angelou is a prominent and celebrated author, poet, educator, producer, actress, filmmaker, and civil

rights activist, who is currently the Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University. She has

served on two presidential committees, was awarded the Presidential Medal for the Arts in 2000 and the Lincoln

Medal in 2008.

Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is an American investor, industrialist, and philanthropist. He is one of the most successful investors

in the world. Often called the “legendary investor Warren Buffett,” he is the primary shareholder, Chairman and

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CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Mr. Buffett has pledged that all of his shares in Berkshire Hathaway – about 99

percent of his net worth – will be given to philanthropic endeavors. He is a co-founder of The Giving Pledge, an

organization that encourages wealthy Americans to devote at least 50 percent of their net worth to philanthropy.

Jasper Johns

American artist Jasper Johns has produced a distinguished body of work dealing with themes of perception and

identity since the mid-1950s. Among his best known works are depictions of familiar objects and signs, including

flags, targets and numbers. He has incorporated innovative approaches to materials and techniques, and his

work has influenced pop, minimal, and conceptual art.

Gerda Weissmann Klein

Gerda Weissmann Klein is a Jewish Holocaust survivor who has written several books about her experiences.

After Nazi Germany took over her homeland of Poland, Klein was separated from both her parents: they were

sent to Auschwitz and she to a series of labor and concentration camps. In 1945, she was sent on a forced 350-

mile death march to avoid the advance of Allied forces. She was one of the minority who survived the forced

journey. In May 1945, Klein was liberated by forces of the United States Army in Volary, Czechoslovakia, and

later married Army Lieutenant Kurt Klein, who liberated her camp. A naturalized citizen, she recently founded

Citizenship Counts, an organization that teaches students to cherish the value of their American citizenship. Klein

has spoken to audiences of all ages and faith around the world about the value of freedom and has dedicated her

life to promoting tolerance and understanding among all people.

Dr. Tom Little (Posthumous)

Dr. Tom Little was an optometrist who was brutally murdered on August 6, 2010, by the Taliban in the Kuran Wa

Munjan district of Badakhshan, Afghanistan, along with nine other members of a team returning from a

humanitarian mission to provide vision care in the remote Parun valley of Nuristan. Dr. Little and his wife, Libby,

lived and worked in Afghanistan for three decades beginning in 1976, raising three daughters and providing

vision, dental and mother/child care to the people of that country through the NOOR program (Noor means “light”

in Persian) that Dr. Little ran for the International Assistance Mission.

Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma is considered the world’s greatest living cellist, recognized as a prodigy since the age of five whose

celebrity transcends the world of classical music. Born in Paris, Ma was a child prodigy who went on to study with

Leonard Rose in New York. He made his Carnegie Hall debut at age nine. He was the recipient of the Avery

Fisher Prize in 1978, and, in 1991, Harvard awarded him an honorary doctorate in music. He serves as Artistic

Director of the Silk Road Project, and has won sixteen Grammy awards. He is known especially for his

interpretations of Bach and Beethoven, and for his ability to play many different styles of music, including tango

and bluegrass. He serves on the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

Sylvia Mendez

Sylvia Mendez is a civil rights activist of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent. As an eight-year-old, her parents

attempted to enroll Mendez in an all-white school in their community, but were denied entry at and were told to go

to the school for Mexican children. Her father and other parents sued and prevailed. The Mendez v. Westminster

case was a landmark decision in the civil rights movement against segregation. Mendez currently travels around

the country giving speeches on the value of a good education.

Stan Musial

Stan “The Man” Musial is a baseball legend and Hall of Fame first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals. Musial

played 22 seasons for the Cardinals from 1941 to 1963. A 24-time All-Star selection, Musial accumulated 3,630

hits and 475 home runs during his career, was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player three times,

and was a member of three World Series championship teams. Musial also served as the Cardinals’ general

manager in 1967, when the team once again won the World Series.

Bill Russell

Bill Russell is the former Boston Celtics’ Captain who almost single-handedly redefined the game of basketball.

Russell led the Celtics to a virtually unparalleled string of eleven championships in thirteen years and was

named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player five times. The first African American to coach in the NBA—indeed he

was the first to coach a major sport at the professional level in the United States—Bill Russell is also an

impassioned advocate of human rights. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and has been a consistent

advocate of equality.

Jean Kennedy Smith

In 1974, Jean Kennedy Smith founded VSA, a non-profit organization affiliated with the John F. Kennedy Center

that promotes the artistic talents of children, youth and adults with disabilities. From 1993 to 1998, Smith served

as U. S. Ambassador to Ireland, and played a pivotal role in the peace process. Smith is the youngest daughter of

Joseph and Rose Kennedy and is the Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Kennedy Center.

John J. Sweeney

John J. Sweeney is the current President Emeritus of the AFL-CIO, and served as President of the AFL-CIO from

1995 to 2009. The son of Irish immigrants, a domestic worker and a bus driver in the Bronx, he worked his way up

in the labor movement to become President of the Service Employees International Union, growing the union to

serve as a strong voice for working people. As President of the AFL-CIO, he revitalized the American labor

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more than 500 middle school students. On this autumn morning, the school’s gymnasium was transformed into a courtroom. The school band played “The Star Spangled Banner,” the choir sang

“America the Beautiful,” and National Junior Honor Society members passed out miniature U.S. flags for the new citi-zens to proudly wave after being sworn in as American citizens. To date, twelve naturalization ceremonies have been held at Three Rivers Middle School thanks to the vision of Marney Murphy.

At this ceremony, my grandmother shared her personal story and congratu-lated the immigrants on receiving their U.S. citizenship. She encouraged them to become good citizens and give back to their communities in appreciation for all that they will inherit as citizens of the United States of America.

Growing the ConceptSoon after returning home from the community-wide ceremony in Ohio, my grandmother shared with family and friends what she had just witnessed. She wondered, “Could this sort of inspiring, educational event be replicated in other schools?” After countless discussions on this topic, I contacted Marney Murphy to learn more about what is involved in hosting such an event. I was impressed by the attention to detail required to create this unique learning experience for the students. The impact on the students was so significant that I decided to take action so that students in other schools could benefit from an experience such as this.

My grandmother and I initiated discussions with various educational and business leaders about the need for a program to teach students about the natu-ralization process and the importance of becoming responsible community mem-

bers. Because there is an incredible need for a program such as this, I collaborated with textbook publisher, McDougal Littell. I wrote a curriculum highlighting the naturalization process and importance of practicing good citizenship skills. The Path to Citizenship, a 42-page curriculum for grades 5-11, allows for short- or long-term study and culminates in a student-hosted naturalization ceremony.4

Citizenship CountsHosting a community-wide naturaliza-tion ceremony requires a great deal of planning and preparation. With the help of many community leaders, my grand-mother and I created Citizenship Counts, a non-profit organization that provides support and training to schools as they implement our program.

In October 2008, Citizenship Counts launched its first pilot program. One hundred middle school students from two schools in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area participated. They completed the The Path to Citizenship curriculum, which culminated in a natu-ralization ceremony held at The Phoenix Convention Center on March 23, 2009. At this most special event, students wel-comed 50 adults from 26 different coun-tries who took “The Oath of Allegiance” and were sworn in by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

The ceremony was an emotional experience for all 400 people in atten-dance, including Citizenship Counts’ board members Justice O’Connor; Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne; and my grand-mother. Each addressed the audience about the importance of understanding the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship, as well as the need for quality civics education.

ConclusionOur attitudes towards ethnicity and cul-ture are formed in our youth. Elementary school students have a great proclivity to develop a positive outlook towards diversity when appropriately guided by teachers and school administrators.5 As we aim to create an integrated and har-monious society, we need to recognize that these early years are a critical period for teaching tolerance and interrupting the cycle of racism and discrimination.

What better way to teach civics to students—both immigrant and native born—than to engage them in hosting a naturalization ceremony? An opportunity such as this connects social studies lessons with an uplifting, emotional, and lasting educational memory!

Notes1. From the conclusion of the 1988 report by the NCSS

Task Force on Early Childhood/Elementary Social Studies. Twenty-one years later, these concerns are, if anything, magnified.

2. Rahima Wade, ed., Building Bridges: Connecting Classroom and Community through Service-Learning in Social Studies (Washington, DC: NCSS, 2000), 5.

3. Gerda Weissmann Klein, All But My Life (New York: Hill and Wang, 1995).

4. The Path to Citizenship: A Naturalization Project for Your School (Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2009).

5. Catherine Lasso and Nelson Soto, “The Social Integration of Latino Newcomer Students in Midwestern Elementary Schools: Teacher and Administrator Perceptions,” Essays in Education 14 (Department of Education, University of South Carolina, Summer 2005), www.usca.edu/essays.

Alysa Ullman is executive director of Citi-zenship Counts, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to improving civics education by actively engaging America’s youth and the greater community in the demo-cratic process. Learn more on the web at www.

citizenshipcounts.org.

November/December 2009 11

Gerda Weissmann Klein with students from the Weldon Campusof Villa Montessori in Phoenix: Michael San Roman

and Maggie Walsh, both of Phoenix. Photo by Evelyn Hendrix.

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SCHOOL YEARS

Heartfelt lessons in citizenship

By Evelyn Hendrix

Gerda Weissmann Klein has a heartfelt message for middle school-age children. “My dear

young friends,” the 84-year-old Holocaust survivor says, “freedom is something incredible.”

Weissman hopes to spread this message across Arizona with the help of Citizenship Counts

(citizenshipcounts.org), a non-profit organization she founded in 2008.

Klein was inspired to

create a civics education

program when she was

asked to speak at a

naturalization ceremony

organized by the staff and

students at Three Rivers

Middle School in Cleves,

Ohio. In planning the

ceremony, the students

learned what immigrants

must do to become U.S.

citizens. Klein was moved

to see how students

reacted to watching

immigrants take the Oath

of Allegiance. When she

returned home to

Phoenix, Klein enlisted

the help of her

granddaughter, Alysa

Ullman, to produce the

Citizenship Counts

program, which gives

students a personal view

of an immigrant’s journey

to U.S. citizenship.

Ullman’s 42-page

curriculum, The Pathway to Citizenship, will be taught to seventh and eighth graders

throughout Arizona beginning this fall. It also will be introduced in five major cities across

the nation. By the year 2012, four million students in the U.S. will be involved in Citizenship

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Counts each year. “This is hands-on curriculum,” says Cheryl Walsh, acting CEO. “Students

will participate in a real naturalization ceremony. This is not a simulation or mock

ceremony.”

Citizenship Counts launched last fall as a pilot project at three Valley middle schools:

Mission Montessori in Scottsdale and two Villa Montessori campuses in Phoenix. Students

became familiar with the stories of individual immigrants and learned about their home

countries. They followed them from the time of application to naturalization, and took the

test immigrants must pass.

The program will culminate in a real naturalization ceremony, to be held at the federal

courthouse in Phoenix during March. Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day

O’Connor, who serves on the Citizenship Counts advisory board, will officiate. Students also

will help the new citizens register to vote and apply for passports.

Klein represents the millions who come to America sincerely searching for freedom from

oppression. She hopes the program will help dispel the exaggerated concept that immigrants

are people who live in America illegally. “I love this country with a love that only one who

has been homeless and hungry can know,” she says.

When Klein tells her survival story, children sit on the edges of their

seats to hear it. She was close to their age, just 15, when she began

life under Hitler’s rule. She lost her brother and parents, and was

forced to live and work in concentration camps. Six years later,

weighing only 68 pounds, she was liberated by an American soldier

who later became her husband.

“I am grateful to be standing here, telling you what’s in my heart

without the Gestapo coming to the door,” Klein says with conviction. She tells of her

childhood friend, Ilsa, who was also in the concentration camp. One day, Ilsa found a

single raspberry on the ground and put it in her pocket. At the end of the day, she reached

through barbed wire to pluck a leaf. Ilsa placed the berry on the leaf and presented it to

Klein.

“Imagine a world where your only possession is a bruised raspberry, and you gave it to a

friend,” says Klein, who hopes to teach children that freedom must be shared.

“Freedom comes with responsibility,” she tells them. “You must grow up to be proud

Americans and reach out to others.”

Would you pass the test?

Would your family members pass the naturalization test? You must answer six of 10

questions correctly. The actual test pulls from 100 possible questions about the history and

government of the U.S. Flash cards can be downloaded at

uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/M_623_red.pdf. Here are some sample questions:

What is the supreme law of the land?

How many amendments does the constitution have?

We elect a U.S. senator for how many years?

Who is the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court now?

There were 13 original states. Name three.

When was the constitution written?

Who was the president during World War I?

Who was the president during World War II?

This article first appeared in the February 2009 issue of Raising Arizona Kids magazine. All

rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten, broadcast or redistributed

without permission of the publisher. For more information, write to

editorial@raisingarizonakids.com.

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7000 E. Shea Blvd. #1470 | Scottsdale, AZ 85254-5275 | Phone: 480.991.KIDS (5437) | Fax: 480.991.5460© 2011 Raising Arizona Kids Magazine

2011 CITIZENSHIP COUNTS ADVISORY BOARD JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman named to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the bench in 2005. The first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, Justice O’Connor has a keen interest in promoting civics education. Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court, she was a politician and jurist in Arizona. President Ronald Reagan nominated Justice O’Connor to the Court in 1981. She is currently the Chancellor of the College of William and Mary, and also currently serves on the board of trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Concerned that young people today are not learning what they need to know to become knowledgeable and active participants in civic life, Justice O’Connor is spearheading the creation of a simulated court game to engage youth. KIRK ANKENEY Kirk Ankeney is the Executive Director for Curriculum and Instruction in the San Diego Unified School District, where he has served as curriculum leader for history/social studies, a school administrator, and a history teacher at both the middle and high school level. A former chair of the California Curriculum Commission and Sand Diego County Social Studies Teacher of the Year, Kirk is a co-author of primary source lessons for successive Huntington Library exhibitions on Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and the Gold Rush; several lessons about Lincoln for the National Center for History in the Schools, UCLA; and lessons about George Washington for the Library of Congress. He is chairman of the state’s history-social science Curriculum Framework Criteria and Evaluation Committee (CFCC), serves on the Assessment Review Panel (ARP) for the history-social science assessments for California schools, and is on the board of directors of the Friends of the California State Archives and the California Council for the Social Studies. He is the past recipient of two NEH summer scholar designations, two National Fellowships for Independent Study in the Humanities, and two Gilder Lehram seminar institute invitations. DR. BOBBY WILLIAM AUSTIN

Dr. Bobby Austin is the Executive Director of the National Alliance for Public Trust. He is the former Executive Secretary to the Board of Trustees at the University of the District of Columbia and Vice President for University Relations there. He is the Chairman of the Planning Committee on the Status of African American Men, convened by Congressman Danny Davis, (D) Ill. He brings an extensive and illustrious background as a sociologist, foundation executive, college administrator, editor and policy consultant in Education and the Humanities. Dr. Austin is the founding editor of the Urban League Review, the national research and policy journal of the National Urban League. He also served as Special Consultant on American Culture to the Honorable Joseph Duffey at the National Endowment for the Humanities and as Staff Director and Research Coordinator for the District of Columbia Statehood Constitutional Convention. Dr. Austin is a recipient of the Kellogg National Fellowship Award and is listed in Who’s Who in Black America, Outstanding Young Men of America, the International Dictionary of Biographies and the International Edition of Men of Achievement. He is Mahatma Gandhi Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Dr. Austin serves as a board member for the National Housing Trust, and the World Policy Board of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

DR. MICHAEL BERENBAUM

Michael Berenbaum is adjunct Professor of Theology at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles. He was President and CEO of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation and Director of the United States Holocaust Research Institute at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Hymen Goldman Adjunct Professor of Theology at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Dr. Berenbaum served as Project Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, overseeing its creation. He also served as Director of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington, Opinion-Page Editor of the Washington Jewish Week and Deputy Director of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust where he authored its Report to the President. He has previously taught at Wesleyan University, Yale University and has served as a visiting professor at three of the major Washington area universities – George Washington University, The University of Maryland and American University.

JOHN BRIDGELAND John Bridgeland is President & CEO of Civic Enterprises and Vice Chairman of Malaria No More. He served as Assistant to the President of the United States and the first Director of the USA Freedom Corps., where he helped create the new Citizens Corps and Volunteers for Prosperity while overseeing the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps and Senior Corps. He also served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council at the White House. As a Teaching Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, John taught a class on Presidential Decision Making. He graduated with honors in government from Harvard University, studied at the College of Europe and the Universite Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium as a Rotary International Fellow, and received his J.D. at the University of Virginia School of Law. He serves on numerous boards including the National Conference on Citizenship and We the People National Advisory Committee for Civic Education. MARIA CARDONA Maria Cardona is a seasoned public affairs and communications professional with more than 18 years experience in the political, government, public relations, campaign, community and coalition building arenas. She joined the Dewey Square Group (DSG) – a premier national public affairs firm – as a Principal in February of 2005 to assist DSG’s corporate, non-profit and trade association clients with strategic partnerships at the national, state and local level, especially within the Latino community. She served as a Senior Advisor to the Hillary Clinton for President campaign where she took on the role of campaign surrogate and spokesperson representing the campaign on major national TV, radio as well as Spanish language television news and political shows. Maria also served on Senator Clinton’s formidable Hispanic Outreach team, helping to ensure Senator Clinton’s message reached Latinos all across the country. Prior to that role, she served as Communications Director for the Democratic National Committee. For her work as the top communications officer in the Democratic Party, she was chosen by Hispanic Business Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the country. From 1998 to 2001, she was the Director of Communications for the Department of Justice’s Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), acting as the Clinton Administration’s top spokesperson on the complex issues surrounding immigration.

PATTI SOLIS DOYLE

Patti Solis Doyle was the first Hispanic woman to manage a presidential campaign. A longtime aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton, Doyle served as campaign manager for Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign, her 2006 re-election campaign and her 2008 presidential campaign before serving as political operative and senior adviser to the presidential campaign of now-President Barack Obama, where she was the campaign chief of staff to now-Vice President Joe Biden. A first generation American, Patti is the youngest of the six children of Santiago and Alejandrina Solis, immigrants from Monterrey, Mexico. She entered politics working on Richard M. Daley’s campaign for Mayor of Chicago. Later she went with David Wilhelm, Bill Clinton’s campaign manager, to become Mrs. Clinton’s assistant. She is a political consultant in Washington, D.C.

MARK FRENCH Mark French is President of Leading Authorities, Inc., one of North America’s top lecture agencies with adjacent business interests in video production and publishing. Mark founded Leading Authorities in December 1990 following more than a decade of achievement with two major national associations. As Senior Vice President of Development of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and Executive Vice President of the ATA Foundation, he was responsible for a major increase in membership and funding for both ATA and the ATA Foundation. From 1979-1987, Mark held key positions in the membership and development areas of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He was the Chamber’s leading national account manager in 1981 and 1982. In 1982, he was appointed Director of the Chamber’s Spirit of Enterprise Capital Campaign. He led a successful effort to raise $35 million for the restoration of the Chamber’s historic headquarters across from The White House. Mark is a member of the US Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. DR. JESUS GARCIA

Dr. Jesus Garcia is a first generation Latino whose appreciation for U.S. citizenship developed in his childhood home. He is former President of the National Council for the Social Studies and Professor of Social Studies Education at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dr. Garcia provided valuable advice and assistance in the creation of the Citizenship Counts core curriculum, The Path to Citizenship. CARLOS M. GUTIERREZ

Carlos M. Gutierrez was the 35th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce from Feb. 2005 until Jan. 2009. Before his government service he was Chairman and CEO of the Kellogg Company, a global manufacturer and marketer of well-known food brands. Secretary Gutierrez was born in Havana, Cuba in 1953 and came to the United States with his family in 1960. In 1975, he joined the Kellogg Company as a sales representative in Mexico City, Mexico. After assignments in Latin America, Canada, Asia, and the United States, he became President and CEO in 1999 and Chairman of the Board in April, 2000. Secretary Gutierrez studied Business Administration at the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Queretaro, Mexico.

LEON HARRIS

Award-winning journalist Leon Harris is the news anchor for Washington D.C.’s 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts for ABC7/WJLA-TV. He came to Washington after 20 years at CNN’s Atlanta headquarters, where he co-anchored CNN Live Today and Prime News, and hosted CNN Presents and American Stories. Leon has covered a wide variety of stories including the September 11th terror strikes, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Asian tsunami of 2004, the TWA Flight 800 crash and the Los Angeles riots. He has interviewed several Presidential candidates and reported live from both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. His professionalism and hard work has earned him a number of honors, among them multiple Cable Ace awards for Best Newscaster and National Emmy Awards for his coverage of the September 11th terror strikes, the Oklahoma City bombing and the 2000 Presidential election. He was also honored with a National Headliner Award and most recently with a National Capital Area Emmy Award for Best Anchor. A Cum Laude and honorary doctorate recipient from Ohio University, he is passionate about improving the lives of children and serves on numerous charitable boards including those of For the Love of Children, Junior Achievement of the National Capital Area, and MenzFit. BEN JOHNSON

Benjamin Johnson is the Executive Director of the American Immigration Council (AIC) in Washington, D.C. AIC is dedicated to increasing public understanding of immigration law and policy and the value of immigration to American society, and to advancing fundamental fairness and due process under the law for immigrants. Prior to becoming Executive Director, Ben served for four years as the Director of AIC’s Immigration Policy Center (IPC), which is the research arm of the organization. He studied and worked in the immigration field for more than 15 years. Ben has written extensively on immigration law and policy and has been an invited to present testimony on immigration issues before the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He is a frequent guest commentator on television and radio, with appearances on CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, Fox News, BBC World News, National Public Radio and other television and radio programs. DR. JAMES KIELSMEIER Dr. James Kielsmeier is the Founder, President and CEO of the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC), an organization founded in 1983 through the University of Minnesota. As it moves through its third decade of promoting service-learning on a national and international scale, NYLC continues to be at the forefront of education policy and research, helping to write the service-learning provision for the National Community Service Act and producing the first ongoing national study of the state of service-learning in kindergarten through 12th grade, Growing to Greatness. An adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota, Jim also founded the Center for Experiential Education and Service-Learning. He holds a doctorate in education from the University of Colorado, a master’s in international relations from American University in Washington, D.C., and a bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College.

THOMAS H. KIRK, JR. Thomas H. Kirk, Jr. was commissioned in the U.S. Air Force in 1964 and completed his pilot training the following year. In Korea he flew 55 combat missions as a T-6 “Mosquito” pilot and in F-86s. Following Korean service, he flew various aircrafts as a line pilot, flight commander and squadron operations officer in various fighter units during from 1953-1966. In 1967, he was assigned as squadron commander of the 357th Fighter Squadron in Thailand, flying combat missions over North Vietnam in F-105s. On October 28, 1967, while leading the largest mission of the war to that date, his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Hanoi, North Vietnam. He parachuted from his burning F-105, and was held Prisoner of War for 5 & 1/2 years. He was released at the war’s end in March, 1973 and returned home. Upon return to the United States, he was Commander for Operations and later Wing Commander of the 29th Flying Training Wing, Selma, Alabama. Next, he was Vice Commander of the Lowry Technical Training Center, Denver, Colorado. His final duty billet prior to retirement was Headquarters US European Command where he was Deputy Commander of all Special Forces in Europe. Tom’s military awards and decorations include the Air Force Cross, three Silver Stars, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Legion of Merit, 9 Air Medals and the Purple Heart. He received his BS from the Virginia Military Institute and his MBA from the University of Southern California.

AMY LEVETON

Amy Leveton is the Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates (PSB), a strategic communications firm that helps some of the biggest brands in the world boost their business. She was the firm’s first female Vice President and is its first female Executive Vice President. In her role, she oversees PSB’s offices in Washington, D.C., New York City, Seattle, San Francisco, and Austin. In 2008, PRWeek magazine named Amy as one of its “40 Under 40”. The annual list honors those public relations practitioners under 40 years of age who demonstrate “innovative thinking, strong determination, and results that indicate a long and successful career in the PR industry.” In the spring of 2009, Amy was honored as one of Politics Magazine’s “Rising Stars.” The award recognizes people 35 or under who have made a significant mark in political consulting or advocacy. She is a strategic partner for many Fortune 500 and leads teams that conduct integral research and strategic brand development for major entities such as Microsoft, McDonald’s, General Mills, T-Mobile, Procter & Gamble, MetLife and the United States Department of Treasury. She has been instrumental in achieving victories for a range of political candidates in the US and abroad, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in her 2000 and 2006 elections to New York Senate. Amy Leveton graduated summa cum laude from the University of Michigan Honors College, with dual degrees in political science and psychology.

TED MCCONNELL

Ted McConnell serves as Executive Director of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools (CMS) a coalition of over 50 national organizations committed to improving the quality and quantity of civic learning in our nation’s schools. Prior to joining CMS, Ted directed the Campaign to Promote Civic Education, a fifty state effort to revitalize and strengthen civic education at the state and district levels, which was an initiative of the Center for Civic Education. He also served as co–coordinator of the Congressional Conferences on Civic Education 2003-2006. Ted has been involved in the political, governmental and non-profit sectors for over thirty years. Prior positions include Congressional Affairs Assistant to the United States Secretary of Commerce Assistant to the Chairman; and Director of Marketing and Events for the Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution; Transition Assistant, 1980 Presidential Transition; and Deputy Director of the Citizens Division of the Republican National Committee. Ted also served on staff for the Presidential campaigns of Presidents Gerald R. Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. ABIGAIL TAYLOR Abigail Taylor is the Executive Director of iCivics inc., and the Our Courts project. She was the 2007-2008 fellow for the Sandra Day O’Connor Project on the State of the Judiciary at Georgetown Law. Abby previously worked as a senior policy associate at Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, and has designed curriculum for and taught middle school-aged youth in various traditional and nontraditional educational settings. She received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an M.A. in public policy and women’s studies from George Washington University, and a B.A. from Yale University.