A Learning Tree in Bloom

Mitch Bloomer is an educator to his very core. It’s not just what he does for a living, it’s what he lives to do. He’s been a middle-school history teacher for Orange County Public Schools for 35 years, while simultaneously working as the OCPS resource staff teacher at The Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida for the past quarter-century.  

Though his name – and his job – may lead some to believe Mitch Bloomer is Jewish, he is not. Born in Wisconsin, he traces his family roots to England and Germany.

“I don’t represent myself as being Jewish, but when I go out and represent the Holocaust Center, I don’t say I’m not Jewish unless it’s relevant to what we’re talking about,” says Mitch. “It’s because of Tess Wise, our founder, that this organization is representative of our diverse community. So, not being Jewish hasn’t been a hindrance at all. I have tried my best over the years to inform myself about Judaism as a religion and the history of Jewish people in all the iterations of Jewish history, all so I could be well-informed and be prepared to speak. I have a friend who calls me an honorary Jew, and I consider that a high compliment.”

Fascinated by history since childhood, Mitch earned his bachelor’s degree in the subject from the University of Central Florida and got his first teaching job with the Orange County Public Schools system when he was 22. But it was a series of events, including a chance visit to the Holocaust Center, that sparked an idea that would influence the course of the young history teacher’s career.

“My wife and I had come to the Holocaust Center for an evening program soon after it opened in 1986,” Mitch remembers. “I was so impressed, the next school year, I booked a field trip for my class. Before the trip I came to the center to check it out and anticipate any questions they might have. On the day of the field trip, and maybe it was serendipity, the person who was to guide the tour wasn’t there. Here I am, with this group of over 100 eighth graders, and no exhibit guide, so I led the tour myself.”

Tess Wise, the founder and visionary behind the Holocaust Center, was there and came out to listen to Mitch engaging his students in Holocaust history. She was so impressed by what she witnessed that she asked Mitch if he’d like to become a volunteer. She told him she was working on getting teachers to be specialists in Holocaust education and that she would help him expand his knowledge on the topic. 

It was an offer Mitch was glad to accept.

“I was in a group of teachers that Tess sponsored to do a study tour in Poland and Israel,” Mitch says. “It was led by two survivors and resistance fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Ben and Vladka Meed. It was an extraordinary experience. It was 1991, and I also got to meet world-class professors and some of the greatest scholars on the Holocaust working at Yad Vashem.”

When Mitch returned home, Tess asked him to talk to her board about the value of what he learned and how he was going to make it a part of his students’ education. She also asked if he would be willing to continue volunteering at the center.  

“As I continued to volunteer, I met my predecessor, Dr. Karen Riley,” Mitch explains. “It was Karen who put me on the track of a graduate-level summer program for teachers sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities at the University of Florida.” 

When Karen left the Holocaust Center to study for her doctorate, Tess reached out to the OCPS superintendent. The two reached an agreement, and in 1995, Mitch became the OCPS resource teacher for the Holocaust Center. 

“It’s fascinating to me how circumstances aligned,” says Mitch. “It was because of Tess and Dr. Riley that I had educational opportunities I could never have imagined.”

In a few years, the Holocaust Center will move to significantly larger quarters in Orlando’s downtown cultural corridor and will be renamed the Holocaust Museum for Hope & Humanity. It is expected to draw at least 150,000 visitors annually.

“You never know where you’re going to end up, do you?” says Mitch. “This much I do know, I was 32 at the time I came to the Holocaust Center. Most people aren’t lucky enough to find their dream job at such a young age.”