Annual contest connects youths, Holocaust survivors in ‘Message to the Future’
March 27, 2013
Someday in the future the story of a rainy March day at Chapman University in 2013 will come back to life for high school sophomore Katie Mukai.
That’s because after spending time meeting and chatting with several Holocaust survivors at the Fourteenth
Annual Holocaust Art & Writing Contest
, Katie has already pegged the experience as a memory she plans to share with the next generation.
“I actually get to interact with these people. My children won’t get to, so I will have to tell them,” the Irvine student said.
Such is the intent of the contest and get-together, offered each spring by the
Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education
in collaboration with
The “1939” Club
, one of the world’s largest and most active Holocaust survivor organizations. Hundreds of middle and high school students gathered on campus Friday, March 8, for the awards ceremony and reception celebrating this year’s contest winners.
With each passing year, the urgency of the task grows increasingly clear as the number of Holocaust survivors in attendance grows smaller. Even the theme of this year’s contest – Message to the Future – underscored the passing of time.
