Below is information about our 2027 7th-8th Grade Student Leadership Day.
Our intensive Student Leadership Day programming engages students in 7th-8th grades with captivating, world-class Upstander speakers, interactive programs, and the opportunity to create an action plan to take back to their school. Student Leadership Day inspires the change-makers to build leadership skills, explore their roles as citizens, and develop a deeper understanding of the Holocaust, genocide, and other human rights issues. Students return to their communities with the tools and drive to promote acceptance and understanding.
We invite you to nominate up to ten of your 7th – 8th grade students to participate in this powerful day. The goal of Student Leadership Day is to increase awareness about the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights, and to help participants think about lessons we can learn from the past, with a particular focus this year on the importance of learning and retelling inspiring stories of real people from history. Participating students will develop and carry out an action plan to address a social justice issue in their school, community, or the wider world.
There is no cost for students to participate.
Date & Time
Choose between two dates/times:
Wednesday, February 17, 2027, 9:00am – 2:30pm
Illinois Holocaust Museum, 9603 Woods Drive, Skokie, IL 60077
Thursday, February 18, 2027, 9:00 am – 2:30pm
Illinois Holocaust Museum, 9603 Woods Drive, Skokie, IL 60077
Keynote Speaker
SHARON CAMERON
Sharon Cameron is the #1 NYT and USA Today best-selling author of nine award-winning novels, including The Light in Hidden Places (2020), and her newest novel Up From the Ashes (October, 2026). Sharon’s books have won the Parents’ Choice Gold Award, the Westchester Fiction Award, the Junior Library Guild’s Gold Standard Award, earned starred reviews from Booklist, School and Library Journal, Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus, have been chosen for Indie Next Top Ten, YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults, Audible Best Books, and received numerous state award nominations. The Light in Hidden Places was a 2020 Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and has been sold in 19 countries. Sharon lives with her family in Nashville, TN.
Participating schools will receive a copy of Sharon’s newest book, Up from the Ashes, which tells two survivors of the uprising at Sobibor killing center in October 1943.
Nomination Guidelines
Nominations are reviewed on a rolling basis, in the order in which they are received. If capacity has not been reached, the nomination deadline will be Tuesday, January 26 at 5:00 pm CT.
- A maximum of 10 students per school are permitted. Please consult with your colleagues before submitting your nomination letter.
- A teacher or administrator must participate in the program along with their students. Limit 2 teachers/chaperones per school.
- Students should be willing to actively participate in discussion and activities, meet new people and become student ambassadors for the Illinois Holocaust Museum in their schools and broader communities.
- Students in grades 7-8 in accredited schools or homeschools are eligible to participate.
- Students should have a sincere interest in enhancing their knowledge of the Holocaust, genocide, and/or human rights issues.
- Students should have shown an interest in leadership at school or in their communities or have shown an interest in creating social awareness. Schools are particularly encouraged to nominate students who are not yet leaders in their schools, but who have the potential to be. Suggested nomination criteria available by request.
- Students must participate in the entire program until 2:30 pm.
You will be notified of your nomination status via email no later than two business days following the close of the nomination period. Additional details and links will be provided at that time. Participating schools will be invited to apply for a “seed money” grant to help fund materials needed to carry out their action plan. Application guidelines will be provided to participating schools in late February.
Presenting Sponsor of Student Leadership Days:
Education Services are supported with generous grants from:
Charles and M.R. Shapiro Foundation, David P. Brody Charitable Trust, Dr. Scholl Foundation, Edoardo & Susan Kulp, Full Circle Foundation, Helen Brach Foundation, Jewel-Osco Foundation, Margot and Gunther Marx Education Fund, and PNC
Additional endowment support is provided by:
Congregation B’nai Sholom, The Mayor Richard M. and Maggie C. Daley Education Fund, The Harvey L. Miller Family Foundation Program Endowment Fund, Moselle Mintz Schwartz Education Fund, Barney & Anita Sidler Educational Endowment, and Teachers Educational Endowment Fund
Generously Supported by: Carol Lavin Bernick Family Foundation and Kennedy Family Foundation
Photo credits: Robin Subar; courtesy of Sharon Cameron