Registrations are now open for the 2022 March of the Living trip, which is organized by the Mayerson JCC, in partnership with the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center. The experience is offered to high school seniors who have at least one Jewish parent. Eligible students receive a $6,500 Cincy Journeys travel grant, which is funded by The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati and administered by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. Participants travel to Poland on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) and march from Auschwitz to Birkenau, the largest concentration camp complex built during World War II. The group then travels to Israel to observe Yom HaZikaron (Israel Memorial Day) and Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel Independence Day).

March of the Living makes an impact on the teenagers who participate. Here is what a few of the past trip participants had to say upon their return:

• Being Jewish means that we all share history, love, and stories, which brought our big group together during the trip. We learned that the purpose of life is to learn as much as possible while leaving as much good with those around us as we can. – Hannah Waskowitz
• The week was the darkest of my life, but it was so important that we went there to see the horrors of the past. You can learn all there is to know about what took place there, but you truly can't grasp the bone-chilling realities without experiencing it yourself. From all the darkness, I found light as well. Our delegation of 25, marching alongside 15,000 of our people shows that we are still here. We carry on the memory of the 6 million who are not. While they were brutally murdered, their lives were not for nothing. – Noah Vigran
• When the words dig pits in our hearts and make thunderstorms in our eyes, the 28 of us [25 teens and three adults] leaned on one another. We hugged tight, making the other know that they were not alone, nor ever will be. – Avi Shapiro
• "All of us are a part of an elite group of Jewish people who have paid homage and respect to those who were murdered in the Holocaust. We are also part of the group of Jewish people who walked out of those camps alive. Thank you for showing us a new meaning to life over the past two weeks: a trip we'll truly never forget." —Drew Lawrence
• "While many of us had been to Israel before, this trip gave us an entirely different experience, one that felt 'more important.' On our trip to Poland, we had seen the worst of humanity and had some of the most intense days of our lives. It made us ready, however, to see how our people have survived and have prospered in Israel." —Jen Goodman

For more information and to learn how you can be a part of the 2022 March of the Living trip, contact Devra Silverman at MOTL@MayersonJCC.org or visit mayersonjcc.org. For more information about how to apply for a Cincy Journeys Israel travel grant, contact Jennifer Clark at cincyjourneys@jfedcin.org, or visit cincyjourneys.org.