As part of its 29th Annual Community Holocaust Commemoration for Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance), the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation held a Student Holocaust Writing, Art, and Multi-Media contest.
Students in grades seven to 12 were invited to submit an original piece of poetry, narrative composition, art, or multimedia piece.
Winners were announced at the annual Community Yom Hashoah Commemoration Ceremony held at the Mahoning County Courthouse April 28.
Yom Hashoah is an internationally recognized day set aside for remembering all victims of the Holocaust and for reminding society what can happen to civilized people when bigotry, hatred, and indifference reign.
The theme for this year’s contest related to the Wannsee Conference, a 90-minute meeting in January 1942 that was attended by 15 high-ranking Nazi party and German government officials and convened to discuss and coordinate the implementation of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question,” a previously approved plan to deport and exterminate some 11 million Jews throughout Nazi-occupied Europe and beyond. The primary item on the conference agenda was merely to ensure the cooperation of the administrative leaders of various government departments so that the components of the Final Solution could be successfully carried out. Missing from the agenda was any substantive consideration of the ethical implications of mass genocide.
Akiva Academy students participated in the annual contest. Pictured from left are (back row) Kobi Sigler, teacher; Addison Silverman, eighth grade; Selah Sargent, eighth grade; Atara Karabelo, teacher; (front row) Jordan Billups, eighth grade; Lauren Pazin, seventh grade; and Isabelle Culver, seventh grade.
This year’s winners of the Student Holocaust Writing, Art, and Multi-Media contest are:
Grades 7-8 Poetry
Noah Bolen, First Place
Austintown Middle School
Jordin Billups, Second Place
Akiva Academy
Dominic Boano, Third Place
Austintown Middle School
Grades 7-8 Essay
Selah Sargent, First Place
Akiva Academy
Alexis Beaudis, Second Place
Austintown Middle School
Mia Foley, Third Place
Austintown Middle School
Grades 7-8 Art
Lauren Pazin, First Place
Akiva Academy
Isabelle Culver, Second Place
Akiva Academy
Addison Silverman, Third Place
Akiva Academy
Grades 9-10 Poetry
Gloria McCabe, First Place
South Range High School
Zaeda Stiles, Second Place
South Range High School
Kendell Scriber, Third Place
Boardman High School
Grades 9-10 Essay
Giada Pauline, First Place
South Range High School
Sava Crnjak, Second Place
Boardman High School
Peyton Hines, Third Place
South Range High School
Grades 9-10 Multi-Media
Brooklyn Sellers, First Place
Boardman High School
Grades 11-12 Poetry
Lily Widmyer, First Place
West Middlesex High School
KateLynn Kershaw, Second Place
Boardman High School
Grades 11-12 Essay
Ashleigh Hodge, First Place
Crestview High School
Ian McGavin, Second Place
Boardman High School
Alena Hemminger, Third Place
West Middlesex High School
Grades 11-12 Art
Taylor Moore, First Place
West Middlesex High School
The Jewish Community Relations Council, the public affairs department of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation, represents the Jewish communities of Mahoning and Trumbull Counties and of the Shenango Valley. Its mandate is to protect, preserve, and promote a just, democratic and pluralistic American society, and to safeguard the rights of Jews here, in Israel, and around the world.