Lowell Milken Center

The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes (LMC) works with schools around the world to teach respect and understanding among all people by developing history projects about unsung heroes whose actions promote these values, regardless of race, religion and creed. 

The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes museum in the heart of historic downtown Fort Scott, Kansas is a state-of-the-art 6,000-square-foot exhibition hall features over a dozen exhibits, a 48-seat theater with bench seating, a conference room, a life-sized apple  1 deposit casino canada.com tree, and student art projects. Currently in development is the new Unsung Heroes park, an outdoor exhibition and community space that is slated to open in May of 2022.

The origins of the organization began taking shape in 1999, led by Megan Felt and students from Uniontown, who created a history project that told the story of Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker who rescued 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. The students wrote a play about Sendler called Life in a Jar, which has since been performed hundreds of times throughout the U.S. and in Europe. Upon discovering that Sendler was still alive and living in Poland, the Uniontown students contacted and visited her. Since then, they have established a very close bond with Sendler, and have worked tirelessly to spread her story around the world. It was their efforts that helped lead to her nomination in 2007 for the Nobel Peace Prize.

As Lowell offered his support for the Life in a Jar project, sponsoring performances of the play in Los Angeles and creating an educational DVD based on the project, he and award-winning history teacher Norm Conard began discussing how they could further promote such educational projects that bring to light unsung heroes such as Irena Sendler—heroic role models whose actions teach respect and understanding among all people and embody the Hebrew phrase, tikkun olam ("repair the world").

They discussed the concept of taking these projects to a broader audience, national in scope. As a result of these discussions, Norm and his high school students collaborated on a proposal for an international nonprofit organization that would change the world by developing projects that teach respect and understanding. This became the foundation for founding the Lowell Milken Center or Unsung Heroes in 2007 with Mr. Conard serving as executive director, a position he holds today, while his student Megan Felt, serves as program director.

Today, LMC works with students and educators across diverse academic disciplines to develop history projects that highlight role models who demonstrate courage, compassion and respect. Through our unique project-based learning approach, students discover, develop and communicate the stories of Unsung Heroes who have made a profound and positive impact on the course of history. By championing these Unsung Heroes, students, educators and communities discover their own power and responsibility to effect positive change in the world.

For more information, visit the Lowell Milken Center official website.