Andrew Beiter

New York

Andrew Beiter is an 8th grade American history teacher at Springville Middle School, outside of Buffalo, New York. He is also the director of the Summer Institute for Human Rights of Buffalo, a regional education coordinator for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the board president for the Educators’ Institute for Human Rights, an organization designed to provide Holocaust and human rights education to educators in former conflict zones, including Rwanda, Bosnia, and Cambodia.

Beiter uses Speak Truth to Power as a means of inspiring his students to be defenders of others. It provides his classes the opportunity to see that ordinary people can make history and be a ripple of hope. The Speak Truth Video Contest also allows them to connect these important messages with the world. What he has enjoyed the most, though, is having his students portray these defenders on stage, where they become powerful examples for others to stand up for what is right.