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Our Center is dedicated to educating about the Holocaust

In 2007, long-time Holocaust educator Jim McGarry founded the Farkas Center in honor of Helen and Joe Farkas. Jim recognized the power of personal testimony and the impact that Helen Farkas made on the students who heard her story.

Meet Our Board

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Adrian Schrek

Executive Director

Adrian serves as Director of the Farkas Center after a 10-year stint on its Board of Directors. In addition to her work at the Farkas Center, Adrian indexes Holocaust survivor testimonies for USC’s Shoah Foundation. Prior to this, she was...

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Carole Touye

Treasurer

Carole Touye worked for many years in the Business Office at Mercy High School and served as a key liaison to the Mercy community. She has been engaged in secretarial work in San Francisco Catholic Schools for more than twenty years...

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Susan Shear

Board Member

Susan Prinz Shear has a BA in Education and an MA in School Psychology. She studied at Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies in Israel and Poland, interviewed Holocaust survivors for the Shoah Foundation and worked...

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George Schapiro

Board Member

George Schapiro first drove the eponymous Helen Farkas while serving as a volunteer driver for Jewish Family and Children’s Services in 2010. Over the next few years, he drove Helen to many school speaking engagements...

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Miriam Zimmerman

Board Member

Miriam Zimmerman, Ed.D., served as the interim director of the Farkas Center from 2012 to 2014. Her father, of blessed memory, was a German-Jewish refugee who escaped Nazi Germany in 1937. As part of Patton’s Third Army, he was a liberator of the Buchenwald...

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Adrian Mison Fulay

Board Member

Adrian Mison Fulay has taught in several schools and programs throughout the Bay Area for over 25 years. Currently the chair of the Religious Studies department at Salesian College Preparatory in Richmond, he teaches in the subject areas of World Religions...

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Sofia Tobiason

Student Board Member

Sofia Tobiason is a sophomore at Convent High School. Sofia is head of the Latin club and competes in ballroom and Latin dancing. She became deeply engaged in learning from Holocaust survivors as part of the Next Chapter Program...

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Lucas Leeds

Student Board Member

Lucas attends Lick Wilmerding High School in San Francisco. He is a very empathetic person and loves to converse with new and familiar people.. He has a strong passion for architecture and strives to design spaces for the well-being...

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Sabrina Jarman

Board Alum

Sabrina Jarman is a senior at Mercy High School Burlingame and was adopted from Xiaogan China. She first learned about the Farkas Center when she was in 8th grade and attended an event where she heard survivors of the Holocaust...

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Kathryn Stoll

Student Board Alum

Kathryn “Kat” Stoll was born in Boulder Colorado and her family moved to the Bay Area in 2007. Kat is a devout Catholic who attends Marin Catholic High School. Her greatest love is the arts, creating and appreciating all forms...

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AnneMarie Yellin

Board President

AnneMarie (Feller) Yellin, was born in Chemnitz, Germany, and survived the Holocaust as a "Hidden Child." After Kristallnacht, she went to Brussels, Belgium where she was hidden in a Catholic Convent for the duration of the war...

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Pauline Borghello

Board Member

Sister M. Pauline Borghello, R.S.M. is a native San Franciscan. After high school, she entered the Catholic religious order of the Sisters of Mercy. She has a BA in Education and an MA in Educational Administration/Supervision...

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Anne Grenn Saldinger

Board Member

Anne Grenn Saldinger, Ph.D. is former Executive Director of the Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project for which she gathered hundreds of life stories of local survivors. She now works with families to preserve their legacies...

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Lynne Schuman

Board Member

Lynne Schuman is originally from Chicago. She has a BA in Education and an MA in Law and Legal Studies. She works with her husband’s law office in San Francisco. As a 15-year-old she went with her family to Germany...

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Stacy Schwartz

Board Member

Stacy is a native Kansan and a Ph.D. candidate in Visual Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research explores the shifting role of cultural trauma in representations of contemporary American identities, particularly at the intersection of...

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Sydney Klaiman

Board Member

Sydney discovered the Farkas Center when she was a student at Mercy High School in San Francisco and was the Farkas Center’s first student board member. This afforded her the opportunity to meet many survivors, including Helen Farkas.

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Sophia Cuperstein

Student Board Member

Sophia Cuperstein is a sophomore at Convent High school in San Francisco. She learned about the Farkas Center through her school’s student outreach and volunteer program. The Farkas Center’s focus on survivor’s...

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Sofia Kozlova

Student Board Member

Sofia Kozlova is a junior at Convent High School. She possesses a notable passion for journalism and a deep interest in history. She hopes to use her role on the Farkas Center's board to educate others and spread awareness on both...

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Natalie Martinez

Board Alum

Natalie Martinez was born in San Francisco and is passionate about working for those who are impacted by ongoing social injustice. She is a Mercy San Francisco alumna and is currently a senior at Archbishop Riordan...

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Andrew Scott

Board Chair

Andrew Scott was born in London. His mother was a Holocaust survivor from Berlin who lost 29 family members in Auschwitz. Andrew’s professional career includes work as a college instructor (University of London, San Francisco State...

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Cynthia Larsen

Board Member

Cynthia Larsen serves as the Director of the Academic Support Center at Marin Catholic High School. She has a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley Law School...

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Michelle Satterfield

Board Member

Michelle Satterfield RN, BSN, is a native San Franciscan and has one son. She received her bachelor’s degree in Nursing from San Francisco State University. Her father, of blessed memory, was a Holocaust survivor and a Korean Army...

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Ashley Travis

Board Member

Ashley Travis has been a Farkas Center Board member since 2018. She is a yoga and mindfulness instructor with an emphasis on creating a safe container for teen women to heal and grow. Currently taking a pause to explore life...

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Carrie J. Schroeder

Board Member

A native of New Jersey, Carrie J. Schroeder moved to California almost 30 years ago and now considers the San Francisco Bay area to be her true home. She currently serves as the Director of Faith Formation at Ecole Notre Dame des Victoires...

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John Lui

Student Board Member

John Lui is a junior at Stuart Hall High School. Back in November 2022, he attended the Kristallnacht Commemoration event, which inspired a brief essay about personal testimony and the power of empathy to expand the rawness of data...

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Tessa Rosen

Student Board Member

Tessa Rosen is a senior at Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland. Outside of school and the Farkas Center, she is passionate about performing and spends most of her free time dancing, singing, and acting. She is also devoted...

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Clementine Mohun

Board Alum

Clementine Mohun is a San Francisco native and senior at Convent of the Sacred Heart High School. She was first familiarized with the Farkas Center when she participated in the JFCS Next Chapter Holocaust education program...

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Makenna Kramer

Student Board Alum

Makenna Kramer is a junior at Convent High school in San Francisco. She learned about the Farkas Center through her school’s Genocide Education & Awareness Club, for which she is now a co-leader. The Farkas Center’s approach...

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