Lone Star College-Kingwood Honors College students took time to remember and reflect during a recent trip to the Holocaust Garden of Hope in Kingwood.
On September 15, a group of seven Honors College students and staff explored the garden and took a special tour led by Rozalie Jerome, founder of the Holocaust Remembrance Association (HRA18), whose family was personally affected by the Holocaust.
The trip was part of the students' Honors Academic Service-Learning Seminar, in which they spend 16 hours over the semester volunteering with a community partner and then share a critical reflection on what they have learned. Along with HRA18, students this semester are also serving with the Houston SPCA and Revolutionary Ed.
"Our Honors College cohort at LSC-Kingwood visited the Garden of Hope as an opportunity to learn more about the Shoah," said Honors College student Carlos Martinez. "Even though most of us have learned about the Holocaust before, being able to see the memorials in person, hear the stories, and learn about details that are not always covered in a classroom gave me a much deeper perspective."
"One of the first things that caught my attention was the entrance to the Garden of Hope, which resembles the gates associated with concentration camps," Martinez added. "Seeing something that represented that history in person immediately made the experience feel more real."
The group learned about the important work of HRA18, whose mission is to sensitize hearts to the issues of the Holocaust and modern antisemitism through education, healing, and reconciliation. The organization chose the acronym HRA18 to reflect the significance of the number 18 in Hebrew tradition.
The students visited the three completed exhibits: life before the Holocaust, the effects of Nazi propaganda, and the stories of upstanders who put their lives at risk to save Jewish people.
During their visit, the students also painted Upstander stones to place in the garden. Each stone represents a child who was killed in the Holocaust.
Honors College student Sadie Gonzalez was deeply moved by the exhibits.
“Personally, the most impactful part of the Garden was looking at the faces of the children along the gates and exhibits. Hearing that 1.5 million children died from the Holocaust is overwhelming. Looking at the life that could have flourished but could not reach the current age I am now is devastating,” Gonzalez said.
“The visit helped me understand what the Garden of Hope means when it encourages people to become Upstanders,” shared Martinez. “Rather than simply learning about what happened in the past, we were encouraged to think about our own responsibility when we encounter prejudice or hatred. The stories we heard showed how one person speaking up can encourage others to do the same. That really stood out to me because it showed that being an Upstander does not necessarily begin with hundreds of people, it can begin with one person deciding that they will not remain silent.”
The Holocaust Garden of Hope is located at 1660 W. Lake Houston Pkwy in Kingwood.
For more information, visit https://holocaustremembranceassociation.org/garden-of-hope/.
Learn more about the Lone Star College System Honors College at LoneStar.edu/HonorsCollege.
About Lone Star College System
With 100,000 students and counting, Lone Star College System provides transformational educational opportunities that help individuals get from where they are to where they want to be.
Under Chancellor Mario K. Castillo, J.D., the System’s priorities are guided by its strategic plan, which focuses on financial resilience, academic excellence, talent development and bridges to prosperity. Lone Star College System, recognized as a 2026 Great Colleges to Work For® institution by The Chronicle of Higher Education, has eight main campuses and more than 20 locations in the Houston area. Learn more at LoneStar.edu.
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