Winners of Fourth Annual Holocaust Reflection Contest Honored by NSU and Holocaust Learning and Education Foundation

NSU President Dr. George L. Hanbury (left), Barbara and Craig Weiner (second and third from right), co-founders of the Holocaust Learning and Education Fund, Inc., and Florida Lt. Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera were on hand to congratulate the winners of the 2018 Holocaust Reflection Contest. They include (from left to right) Kairaluchi Oraedu, Vanguard High School; Annabel Seidemann, Omni Middle School; Emma Rome, Liberty Christian Preparatory School; Jennifer Juarez, Terra Environmental Research Institute; Christopher Rodriguez, Florida Christian School; Olivia Lobaina, Florida Christian School; Ben DIestel, David Posnack Jewish Day School; Sophia Irias, Florida Christian School; Madison Creevay, Barbara Goleman Senior High School; Paola Chapilliquen, Falcon Cove Middle School; Jonathan Tamen, Nautilus Middle School. Not pictured is Julia Arciola, North Broward Preparatory School.

Twelve Florida middle and high school students were honored recently for the award-winning essays, poems, artwork and films – all focusing on the horrors of the Holocaust. Judges chose their work from more than 1,300 entries submitted in the Fourth Annual Holocaust Reflection Contest, co-sponsored by Nova Southeastern University (NSU) and the nonprofit Holocaust Learning and Education Fund, Inc.

History of the Holocaust is a mandated part of Florida middle and high school students’ curriculum. All the winning projects can be viewed on the Holocaust Reflection Contest website.

Winners included:

High School

ESSAY/POEM

• First Place – Kairaluchi Oraedu, Vanguard High School
• Second Place – Jennifer Juarez, Terra Environmental Research Institute

ART

• First Place – Sophia Irias, Florida Christian School
• Second Place – Emma Rome, Liberty Christian Preparatory School

FILM

• First Place – Madison Creevay, Barbara Coleman Senior High School
• Second Place – Julie Arciola, North Broward Preparatory Schools

Middle School

ESSAY/POEM

• First Place – Paola Chapilliquen, Falcon Cove Middle School
• Second Place – David Posnack Jewish Day School

ART

• First Place – Olivia Lobaina, Florida Christian School
• Second Place – Christopher Rodriguez, Florida Christian School

FILM

• First Place – Jonathan Tamen, Nautilus Middle School
• Second Place – Annabel Seidemann, Omni Middle School

First-place winners in each category were awarded $1000 each, and their respective teachers and schools received $500 each. Second-place winners in each category received $250 each.

“It’s important that we do not forget the lessons from the past,” said NSU President Dr. George Hanbury. “Holocaust Education is vital for our young people to help future generations avoid the atrocities of the past. We are extremely grateful to Craig and Barbara Weiner for the support and resources they have made available to NSU students, members of the faculty and staff, and to the community at large.”

“We have always felt that the best way for our current and future generations to learn the importance of having greater respect for one another, and greater tolerance for our fellow humankind, is through Holocaust education. It is through this education that students can learn what happens as a result of hate and intolerance and how critical it is for ALL of us to stand up against all forms of prejudice,” said Craig Weiner, president, Holocaust Learning and Education Fund, Inc.  “We are extremely honored to have this amazing university as our partner in this effort.”

The Holocaust Reflection Contest began in 2014 at the bequest of 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 and understanding of others will always result in a safer and better world.

While they were at NSU, the contest award winners and their guests had the opportunity to tour The Craig and Barbara Weiner Holocaust Reflection and Resource Center, which 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.