CRANBERRY TWP — When Jim Lucot was 4, his grandmother took him to see the grave of his great-uncle, who was killed in World War II.

She told Lucot that they had to sacrifice James Marshall to stop the evil that was happening in Europe.

The conversation that day spurred Lucot’s lifelong study of World War II and the Holocaust, a passion that will take Lucot to Poland this summer to see some of the very sites he has been studying all his life.

The Seneca Valley High School teacher was chosen to travel with Classrooms Without Borders. He will depart June 26 and return July 4.

Lucot said he has a “weird excitement” about the trip despite the solemn subject.

“It’s not like you’re going to Hawaii,” he said. “It’s an unbelievable honor to be chosen.”

Classrooms Without Borders, or CWB, is sponsored by the Jewish Foundation of Greater Pittsburgh and was founded by Zipora Gur, a former educator.

The organization gives teachers and students a “first-person” experience in their chosen course of study through seminars abroad.

“Most teachers teach from a book,” said Gur, who leads the Poland trip. “I use the country as a textbook. You can’t teach this from a book.”

While in Poland, participants will visit several concentration camps including Auschwitz and Treblinka, as well as a Jewish cemetery and Oskar Schindler’s factory. Their tour guide will be a Holocaust survivor.

“It will be very, very powerful,” Lucot said. “But it’s something I really need to do.”

Through his study of World War II and the Holocaust, Lucot has met a number of survivors, giving his trip a special significance. He is involved in several groups including the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh and the Jewish Federation of the Righteous in New York. That organization trains people such as Lucot to teach the Holocaust when all the survivors are gone.

“It’s great to go where I’m the learner,” he said.

Lucot is already planning how he will translate his trip into lessons for his 11th-grade U.S. history class and AP Government students.

“He is an amazing educator,” Gur said. “For teachers like him, I do what I do. He will teach differently afterward.”

Lucot said he tries to point out the parallels in today’s world with the Holocaust, like the current debate over transgender bathrooms and the anti-bullying policies in the school district.

As part of the program, participants must create a project about their experiences.

“I wanted to do something to fulfill my obligation but that would also challenge me and do (the program) honor,” Lucot said.

To that end, he will teach a non-credit Holocaust class at Butler County Community College this fall.

CWB will sponsor 6 study travel seminars this year. The organization has traveled to Germany, Greece, Israel and Prague in addition to Poland, said Melissa Haviv, a spokeswoman for CWB.

CWB relies on donations to fund its seminars, so the number of teachers and students is limited. The organization will take 77 teachers and students from Ohio, Pittsburgh and Wheeling, W. Va., to Poland this summer, Gur said.

Lucot was sponsored by the Columbus, Ohio, family of Murray Ednor, a Jewish survivor.

Until he leaves, the teacher said he still has some work to do. He wants to consolidate all his questions and information into one journal he can carry throughout the trip.

“I still have a month, there are a lot of books on deck,” he said.

More information on Classrooms Without Borders is available online at classroomswithoutborders.org