On Friday, March 8, students from all Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District (PYLUSD) middle and high schools attended the 20th Annual Chapman University Holocaust Art & Writing Contest Awards Ceremony in Orange.
This year’s theme was “Purposeful Telling Through Memory to Action,” presented by Chapman’s Barry and Phyllis Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education. The competition is the largest of its kind in the nation. Over 8,000 students from 14 countries and 31 states participated this year.
To participate in the contest, PYLUSD students conducted research on the Holocaust and World War II. Each student was instructed to listen to the testimony of a Holocaust survivor or rescuer while thinking about that individual’s motivation in telling their story. Then, they were tasked with creating a piece of art or writing that retold and reflected upon the individual’s experience.
(L-R) Rick Lopez, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, Candy Plahy, Deputy Superintendent, and Carrie Buck, Board President, hold the award presented to PYLUSD for full secondary participation in the contest.
Notably, PYLUSD was the only school district in the entire world to have all of its middle and high schools take part in this competition, with 13 schools total. This is the fourth year in a row PYLUSD has received this distinction.
In addition, PYLUSD had three finalists recognized by Chapman University. This includes Yasmine Cohen from Travis Ranch as a finalist for middle school poetry, Ethan Lee from El Dorado as a finalist for high school film, and Gabriela Schrader from Esperanza as a finalist for high school art. Congratulations, students!
Although each school can only submit three student projects to Chapman for consideration in the contest, the following amounts of students participated at each site:
Bernardo Yorba Middle School
– 200 students participated
– School Finalists: Mikala Enright, Jillian Marquez, & Elaine Thio
Kraemer Middle School
– 245 students participated
– School Finalists: Joshua Cannon, Sean Pierson, & Doyon Kim
Travis Ranch School
– 110 students participated
– School Finalists: Yasmine Cohen, Josephine Kim, & Lan Wei
Tuffree Middle School
– 111 students participated
– School Finalists: Rowen Brown, Kristina Park, & Abigail Vaughn
Valadez Middle School Academy
– 37 students participated
– School Finalists: Cinthia Gonzalez-Ramos, Gloria Rocha, & Destiny Zavala
Yorba Linda Middle School
– 114 students participated
– School Finalists: Maruizio A. Igarashi, Ella Gominsky, & Connor Grewal
El Dorado High School
– 3 students participated
– School Finalists: Maverick Shuck, Berwin Zhang, & Ethan Lee
Esperanza High School
– 130 students participated
– School Finalists: David Olivar, Shannon Magnin, & Gabriela Schrader
La Entrada High School
– 1 student participated
– School Finalist: Abigail Trejo
Valencia High School
– 110 students participated
– School Finalists: Abel Placencia, Keana Savusa, & Diana Ayala-Saavedra
Yorba Linda High School
– 220 students participated
– School Finalists: Jenna Downey, Dylan Shih, & Cindy Wang
Here is the list of the teachers who organized the contest at each site is below:
El Dorado – Dana McIntosh & Christine Williams
Esperanza – Lynn Magnin
Valencia – Rachel Poirier (Schiff)
Yorba Linda HS – Richard Cadra
El Camino Real – Holly Pietsch
La Entrada – Elaine Hudson, Dana Leon
Parkview – Heidi Chipman
Bernardo Yorba – Amy DeFriese
Kraemer – Cathy La Bare Smith
Travis Ranch – Cynde Riley
Tuffree – Kimberly Schultz, Sarah Daniels
Valadez – Kim Martinez
Yorba Linda MS – Tiffany Chase
Esperanza High School senior Gabriela Schrader’s art piece entitled “Love’s Power.”
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