Two Holyoke Educators Honored for Promoting Civic Learning

HOLYOKE — Two Holyoke educators were recently honored by the city and state for their work engaging students in civic learning.

During a Civics Learning Week ceremony at Wistariahurst Museum on March 9, Vanessa Martinez, Holyoke Community College (HCC) professor of Anthropology, and Nicholas Cream, an Ethnic Studies and History teacher at Dean Technical High School, received proclamations recognizing their work from Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia, the state House of Representatives, and the state Senate.

“We’re here today to honor two civic leaders who have gone far and beyond to inspire their students to think critically, engage respectfully with different perspectives, and understand their roles as active citizens,” Wistariahurst Director Morgan Seiler said. “Civic education is about empowering students to participate, lead, and contribute to the communities they call home. Teachers like Vanessa and Nick make that possible by bringing these lessons to life and showing their students their voices truly matter.”

Martinez, a health anthropologist, is co-founder of the Springfield-based Women of Color Health Equity Collective and coordinator of Community-based Learning at HCC. In 2023, Martinez’s students began collecting stories from Holyoke residents for two oral history projects, one on the COVID-19 pandemic and another that examines living conditions in the city and their impact on public health. Those interviews have become part of the Wistariahurst Museum’s permanent archives, and those projects continue.

“That was the beginning,” Martinez said. “Even my 100-level classes are now involved. They do interviews, they learn about oral history, they develop research skills. I feel so blessed to be able to continue this project and show students the importance of working in their communities and feeling their work will live beyond them.”

Cream is president of the Holyoke Teachers Assoc. and an advocate for civic participation and for teachers striving to improve education in Holyoke.

“Our nation’s long-standing audacious experiment in self-governance requires a populace with an understanding of the nation’s laws and government, the skills for discussion and working together across differences, and a commitment to civic strength,” Garcia said. “Educators play a central role in the essential daily work to support young people in the development of an informed and empowered civic identity.”

State Rep. Patricia Duffy presented Martinez and Cream with proclamations from the House and Senate.

“Being in public office, I know how important it is that we start early to get our kids engaged and really know what’s going on in this way-too-complicated world,” Duffy said. “That’s why it’s so important that we’re honoring Nick Cream and Vanessa Martinez, because of both how you teach and how you model for your students that civic life is not just what you learn in the classroom, but how you engage in the greater community, and Holyoke is all the better for it.”