I see myself as a connector, especially here in Orange County. Her dream is to have the Barry and Phyllis Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education connect with middle and high schools in Orange County, filling the niche as a resource center. She moved closer to that dream earlier this year when she helped launch an essay contest for Orange County and Los Angeles County middle and high school students. Each participant received a copy of the book and a certificate from Chapman. The most effective thing is the meeting of people.
Nothing can take the place of it.
It's an impressive array of achievements for a woman who was raised in Tucson and never remembers hearing the Holocaust discussed. As the only child of now-deceased parents, Harran has no immediate family. My life is more focused on looking at young people and adopting them in terms of the Holocaust. When I first started teaching I felt somewhat embarrassed that I wasn't Jewish. I have no family connection.