Ponderosa teacher earns inaugural Holocaust education award in Denver

At Ponderosa High School in Parker, Holocaust history becomes visual art, poetry, narrative, 3D design and dramatic scenes, a classroom approach that helped Dr. Mark Thorsen earn Colorado’s inaugural Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education in Denver.

Governor Jared Polis presented the honor April 15 at Temple Emanuel during the Anti-Defamation League’s 45th annual Governor’s Holocaust Remembrance Program. Thorsen was chosen unanimously from a field of eight applicants, a distinction that makes the Douglas County educator the first person to receive the new statewide award.

Thorsen has taught social studies at Ponderosa High School in the Douglas County School District since 1996, giving him nearly three decades in the same Parker classroom. His teaching reaches beyond standard textbooks and tests. In his courses, students respond to genocide and human rights lessons by creating original work, then present it in café-style conversations using an EPIC rubric built around Effort, Persuasion, Ideation and Creativity.

That method reflects his academic background as well. Thorsen earned a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of Denver, and his dissertation focused on teaching about genocide through the arts. At Ponderosa, that philosophy also shows up in the school’s annual Human Rights Awareness Week, now in its 16th year, a campus-wide effort that pushes the subject beyond one class period and into broader student discussion.

The award also comes at a moment when Holocaust and genocide education carries new statewide weight. Polis signed Colorado’s Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Public Schools law in 2020, requiring Holocaust and genocide education in all Colorado public high schools. ADL and event materials describe the Governor’s Holocaust Remembrance Program as one of the largest Holocaust remembrance events in the United States, underscoring the scale of the platform where Thorsen was recognized.

Thorsen’s record in Douglas County already included recognition from the district, which named him Secondary Teacher of the Year in 2016 through the Apple Awards. He also received the Mizel Museum’s Excellence in Holocaust Education Award in 2022, reinforcing that his influence has been building for years, not only at one ceremony in Denver.

The 2026 remembrance program also included Holocaust survivor Agi Day and a panel with local educators, tying Thorsen’s work to a wider network of survivors, teachers and civic leaders. In a county where school news often centers on budgets and enrollment, his recognition points to a different kind of public impact: a classroom that teaches students how history, prejudice and civic responsibility connect in the present.