Classes of 2010-2018

My story is unique in how I became a student of Elie Wiesel’s at Eckerd College. I distinctly remember reading Night, by Dr. Wiesel, my freshman year of high school. Our assignment was to write a letter to him, reflect on his memoir and express…

Three Winter Terms With Elie Wiesel I remember well how nervous I was during my first day of class with Professor Elie Wiesel. I was also nervous during the days leading up to it. The class was The Witness: Literature of Memory, in Winter Term…

A celebrated author. A patient teacher. A caring employer. A thoughtful mentor. It was in these roles that I progressively came to know Elie Wiesel, and the last one is what’s most significant to me as I write about Professor Wiesel today. When we first…

Eckerd in January was cold enough for me, a Florida native, to wear a big furry brown hat outdoors. I remember putting it on once after class when Elie Wiesel laughed with me and remarked that it made me look Siberian. Class means things like…

I was privileged enough to have studied for a month with Dr. Wiesel at Eckerd College, but I first met him when he came to my high school to speak. I had to be in eighth or ninth grade at the time, and I was…

I remember the first day of class when Elie Wiesel walked in. We were completely stunned and silent, not expecting him on the first day. We went around introducing ourselves and providing an example of a “metamorphosis” moment since it was our class theme. We…

I was fortunate enough to form a relationship with Elie Wiesel through his winter seminar at Eckerd College (2011) on The Role of the Witness. During our time together, we grew close, and I at one point had the opportunity to speak with him about…

The first time I saw and heard Elie Wiesel in person at Eckerd College was when he came to speak to my freshman class. I of course knew who he was and had read in high school his haunting memoir Night but never imagined I…

The first time I sat in one of Professor Wiesel’s classes it was silent. Everyone held their breath as he spoke his first words to our class, responding to our stories of madness, tears and laughter. He smiled and quietly said, “And what about laughter?…

The Witness              For Elie Wiesel He wanted us to know and he wanted us to never know. He told us, his students, that by hearing a witness’s account of injustice, we would become witnesses ourselves. We would then have…