Panorama: A Real Pain

Is travel to sites of one’s family’s roots transformational? Powerful? Traumatic? Eye-opening? 

Following the screening of A Real Pain, we will discuss how traveling to Poland as a young person and/or as an adult offers an opportunity to inspire, dispel misconceptions, and enrich understanding of personal histories as well as confront critical events from the past. 

About Our Panelists

Judi Freeman is the former Seevak Chair in History at Boston Latin School, where she taught Facing History for 24 years.  She is currently working on a biography of journalist Dorothy Thompson. During her teaching tenure, she traveled with nearly 1000 students on 19 trips to Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Several of her former students—Aaron Achildiyev, Sam Demezieux, and JD Moore—will join her this evening. 

Marc Skvirsky recently retired after a long career as Vice President/Chief Program Officer for Facing History and Ourselves. During his tenure he led many study trips to Poland. Marc is currently on the Faculty of the Institute for Nonprofit Practice. 

Aaron Achildiyev, after traveling to Poland in 2018, received a B.A. in Electrical Engineering at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, graduating in 2022. He currently works as an engineer for a medical device company. 

Samantha (Sam) Demezieux served as an Arabic linguist and intelligence specialist for five years in the Marine Corps before earning her B.A. in Middle Eastern, South African and Asian Studies from Columbia University in 2018.  Currently Sam works at a technology startup, where she is dedicated to providing innovative solutions to challenges faced by government employees. 

JD Moore is a senior at Northeastern University studying International Affairs and International Business. He spent much of 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland, where he worked for an investment firm seeking to harness finance for peacebuilding.