South Carolina Council on the Holocaust recognizes E. L. Wright middle school teacher

Scott Auspelmyer, Executive Director of the South Carolina Council on the Holocaust and Riane Alli Ott, 8th grade teacher at E. L. Wright Middle School. 

Wright Middle School teacher Riane Alli Ott successfully completed the South Carolina Council on the Holocaust Teacher Fellowship. Ott is one of only seven teachers in the Palmetto State to complete the fellowship. She began pursuing the fellowship in 2020 and completed it last month.

Ott teaches eighth-grade Social Studies at E. L. Wright. She says working with the S.C. Council on the Holocaust as part of their Teacher Fellowship Program has been a rewarding and memorable experience.

“I have grown not only as an educator but as a student myself, and the lessons I have learned regarding Holocaust pedagogy and best teaching practices in general have been invaluable. The Council has also provided me with a variety of educational opportunities, meetings with esteemed Holocaust historians, and a plethora of resources to bring back to my classroom,” Ott said.

As part of this fellowship, Ott and the other teachers were required to participate in monthly meetings over the course of two years. All participants completed at least 200 hours of reading and research in addition to completing three graduate-level courses through the University of South Carolina. Participants also conducted two field studies: one to Washington, DC to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and another to Poland to visit key historical and cultural sites related to the Holocaust and Jewish history.

E.L. Wright Middle School is located at 2740 Alpine Road, Columbia, SC in Richland School District Two.