Introduction

            Facing History and Ourselves is a junior and senior course taught by the one and only, Mr. Gallagher. For the majority of the class, Mr. Gallagher shows movies to the students about the Holocaust and other significant uprisings in history. After watching a movie, your only assignment is to go online and blog about what you saw and your thoughts. Sometimes, the students get into groups and discuss the movies as well. At the beginning of the course, one of the assignments is to write a letter to Mr. Gallagher telling him who you truly are. This was very meaningful because every day you walk out of that classroom, you start going-over and processing everything that you have learned. The information that you absorbed from those movies are very overwhelming. The class introduces views and facts that you may not have known before and they can possibly change some of your outlooks of the world. That is why the letter is vital because it shows who you were before you took the course, and who you are now with all the new knowledge.

            The reason why I chose this course is because my sophomore-year experience with Mr. Gallagher was very positive and influential. As the year came to an end, he kindly recommended his students to take Facing History and Ourselves because not only would it ‘change your views of life but it would inspire you to do good onto others.’ When I filled out my course selection for senior year, I made sure that my guidance counselor knew very well that Facing History and Ourselves should be a priority. I wanted to experience the change that Mr. Gallagher spoke of and I wanted to learn a lot of the world’s history that I knew little to nothing about. For example, the Holocaust was a main event in history that I did not know much about or understand, and I knew most of the focus of this course was on that specific topic.

            I am a senior at Westborough High School and my plan for next year is to attend Quinsigamond Community College to bring up my grades. There are so many things that I want to do as a profession; but, one thing I am passionate about and I would love to pursue is having the rights to own a business. At the beginning of senior year I knew that I wanted to major in business management and possibly study auto-tech, but now I really want to study history and possibly minor in it.