Nick Haberman
Founder, LIGHT Education Initiative; Social Studies Teacher, Pittsburgh, PA
2022, 2023, 2024
Nick (he/him) is a Pittsburgh-based educator and founder of the LIGHT Education Initiative. He currently works for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit as the inaugural Coordinator of Civic Engagement and Anti-Hate Education in partnership with the Tree of Life, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and the home of LIGHT. He spent the first 18 years of his career as a secondary social studies teacher. After being recognized as the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh’s “Educator of the Year” in 2018, he created LIGHT as a program to transform classroom-based Holocaust remembrance into student advocacy and action for all victims of identity-based violence, and to inspire, prepare, and empower the next generation of humanitarians. He has served as a United States Holocaust Memorial Museum “Museum Teacher Fellow” and a Jewish Foundation for the Righteous “Alfred Lerner Fellow” (Master Teacher of the Holocaust), in addition to being recognized as the Pennsylvania Council for the Social Studies “Outstanding Teacher of the Year” and “Righteous Among the Neighbors” by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. He is also a member of the Eradicate Hate Global Summit K-12 Education Working Group, which coordinates the Eradicate Hate Student Summit.
The effort to eradicate hate requires the active participation of every component of our society, to include governments, the private sector, communities of faith and indeed every aspect of civil society. There is no more urgent task in front of us. The organizers of the Eradicate Hate Global Summit are doing the United States and the world an enormous service by tackling hatred and extremism with a focus on honest dialogue and conversation, genuine learning and practical solutions. This will not happen overnight, but the Pittsburgh community’s leadership in this effort is genuinely inspiring and motivating.
