Elizabethtown, NY, newspaper feature story on Kaleigh Ratliff

The experiences of recent Daemen College graduate Kaleigh Ratliff (History & Government, '13), were featured in a November 4 story published in her hometown newspaper, The Elizabethtown Press-Republican, linked here:  "E'town Woman Helps Document Concentration Camp." The story describes Kaleigh's work with a service-learning project restoring the Jewish cemetery in Przemyśl, Poland, and her response to a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, established during World War II in Nazi-occupied Poland.   

Kaleigh Ratliff shows tombstones in the Jewish cemetery restoration project from July 2013.  Photo by Alvin Reiner, Elizabethtown Press-Republican

Kaleigh traveled to Przemyśl, Poland, in Spring 2013 and again in July 2013 with a student exchange group from Daemen. Kaleigh's work in Poland illustrates her interest in extending her Daemen education beyond the classroom.  At Daemen, Kaleigh's coursework included a Dr. Andrew Wise's class in Polish Culture, and courses in Public History. In addition to her major in History & Government, Kaleigh completed a minor in Public History and had internships at the Smithsonian Institution (through the Washington Internship Institute, for which she was a Daemen Student Ambassador) and at the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site.

To learn more about the Polish exchange between Daemen and PWSW, contact Dr. Andrew Wise.  If you are interested in learning more about Daemen's Public History minor, contact Dr. Penny Messinger.