Students from Placentia, Yorba Linda win top honors at Holocaust Art and Writing Contest

Six students from the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District (PYLUSD) were named finalists in Chapman University’s 17th annual Holocaust Art and Writing Contest, with two taking home first place and two placing second.

The awards ceremony took place on Friday, March 4, at Chapman University. This year’s contest theme was “Telling it Forward: Making Memory Matter.” Presented by Chapman’s Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education, the competition is the largest of its kind in the nation, with submissions from California and 19 other states, as well as Canada, Nigeria, Poland and South Africa.

The six PYLUSD student finalists were:

First place:

• Daanesh Jamal
  Grade 8
  Kraemer Middle School, Placentia
  Category: Writing
  Title: “Ordinary People”
  Teacher: Cathy Smith
  Survivor Testimony: Sam Goetz
• Sophia Scarsi
  Grade 8
  Tuffree Middle School, Placentia
  Category: Art
  Title: “The Unknowing Goodbye”
  Teacher: Kim Schultz
  Survivor Testimony: Renée Firestone

Second place:

• Noelle Humphrey
  Grade 8
  Yorba Linda Middle School, Yorba Linda
  Category: Art
  Title: “6 Million Reasons”
  Teacher: Cameron Castaneda
  Survivor Testimony: Rosette Fischer
• Emily Ito
  Grade 8
  Bernardo Yorba Middle School, Yorba Linda
  Category: Film
  Title: “Acts of Kindness”
  Teacher: Keith Kish
  Survivor Testimony: Elly Kamm

Finalists:

• Caitlyn Guntle
  Grade 8
  Travis Ranch School, Yorba Linda
  Category: Film
  Title: “Dancing in the Rain”
  Teacher: Cynthia Riley
  Survivor Testimony: Vladka Meed
• Somer Magnin
  Grade 11
  Esperanza High School, Anaheim
  Category: Art
  Title: “Silence is Not an Option”
  Teacher: Marsha Linsley
  Survivor Testimony: Paula Lebovics

Over 5,700 students from public, private and parochial schools initially responded to submit artwork, essays, films and poems inspired by the stories of Holocaust survivors. Three works per participating school were then selected to be officially entered in the contest. Those works were judged by a panel of Holocaust survivors, local businesspeople, organization leaders, and Chapman faculty and students.

Notably, PYLUSD was the only school district in the world to have all of its secondary schools take part in this competition — 13 schools total. This level of participation earned PYLUSD a special keepsake pewter dish from Chapman.

For more information, visit www.chapman.edu.

Award presented by Chapman University for being the only district in the nation to have 100 percent participation from all secondary schools.