Florida Students Honored for Award-Winning Holocaust Reflection Contest Entries
Six Holocaust survivors recently sat in the front row at Nova Southeastern University’s Alvin Sherman Library to hear “lessons learned” from 12 Florida middle and high school students.
These students shared their award-winning essays, poetry, artwork and videos created after studying the stories of Holocaust survivors. They were selected from close to two thousand entries in the Fifth Annual Holocaust Reflection Contest. First-place winners in each category will be awarded $1000 each, and their respective teachers and schools will receive $500 each. Second-place winners in each category will receive $250 each.
At the event, Dr. Fred Lippman, chancellor, Health Professions Division, spoke to the winning students and their parents, teachers and principals as well as NSU and community leaders. The agenda also features Craig and Barbara Weiner, co-founders of the Holocaust Learning and Education Fund and co-sponsors of the contest; Ivy Schamis, teacher of Holocaust education at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland; and Robert Tanen, Southeast Regional Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
“At a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise worldwide, it becomes even more critical to learn from our past and share that knowledge with today’s children,” said Craig Weiner. “Barbara and I are proud to lead this statewide effort and encourage the public to tour the Holocaust Reflection and Resource Center at NSU’s Alvin Sherman Library.”
To view more photos, click here.
The winners’ work is posted on the Holocaust Reflection Contest website. They include:
HIGH SCHOOL
Essay/Poem
1st Place | “The Fallacious Monster”
By Leah Mohnkern
Brooks Debartolo Collegiate High School – Tampa
2nd Place | “Seventeen”
By Marin Burke
Blake High School Magnet – Tampa
Art
1st Place | “Savior of Innocence”
By Isabella Gallese
Jensen Beach High School – Martin County
2nd Place | “Resilience”
By Danit Weitzman
Scheck Hillel Community School Inc. – Miami Dade County
Film
1st Place | “The Lessons from a Holocaust Survivor”
By Reggie Ocampos
Bartow High School – Polk County
2nd Place | “We Remember: David Schaecter”
By Victor San Martin
Terra Environmental Research Institute – Miami Dade Public Schools
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Essay/Poem
1st Place | “Remove the Yellow Stars”
By Raewyn Shaw
Community Leadership Academy – Tallahassee
2nd Place | “Sylvia’s Story”
By Mya Kushner
Indian Ridge – Broward County Public Schools
Art
1st Place | “The Butterfly”
By Isabella Garcia
Florida Christian School – Miami
2nd Place | “Glimmer of Hope”
By Yair Sabag
David Posnack Jewish Day School – Broward County
Film
1st Place | “Elie Wiesel”
By Jordan Boulware
Community Leadership Academy – Tallahassee
2nd Place | “The Tracks for a Better World”
Ayden Kostzer
Pembroke Pines Charter West Middle School – Pembroke Pines
The Holocaust Reflection Contest began in 2014 at the bequest of the Holocaust Learning and Education Fund, Inc. (HLEF) co-founders Craig and Barbara Weiner. The couple established HLEF in 2013 to encourage the expansion of Holocaust education in the United States. The organization’s goal is to teach America’s students, through initiatives like the Holocaust Reflection Contest, how intolerance of others can lead to the destruction of our social fabric, while patience, compassion and understanding of others will always result in a safer and better world. By learning from the past, we enrich the future.
The Craig and Barbara Weiner Holocaust Reflection and Resource Center provides NSU students and the community with a place to learn about and contemplate the atrocities that resulted from intolerance and hate. The Center — located on the second floor of NSU’s Alvin Sherman Library — provides access to thousands of Holocaust survivor testimonies; a Holocaust encyclopedia; archival images, artifacts, maps, and films; and links to Holocaust research museums and memorials around the world.