MacArthur students participate in the Chapman University Holocaust Writing Contest

As part of her annual curriculum, Language Arts Teacher Ms. Susan Davis has her students enter the Chapman University contest.

The Holocaust Chapman Writing Contest, or “Messenger of Memory: What Will Your Message Be?” is a contest held for middle and high school where students connect with a survivor or rescuer online. The contest is held on February 2 and is hosted by Jessica Mylymuk at Chapman University.

“I teach a two month unit on the Holocaust and it gives my kids an opportunity to meet survivors,” said Ms. Susan Davis, originator of the writing contest at MacArthur.

To join the contest, you must be in Ms. Davis’ class. The meetings are held in Room 14 every Wednesday at lunch. There is no maximum number of contestants, but only the top 3 students represent MacArthur.

Davis began participating in the contest because the school received an invitation to participate several years ago.  The principal, at the time, gave it to Davis, who got involved and made the contest apart of her syllabus.

“My kids gain an enormous amount of knowledge and sensitivity of the horrors that happened to the survivors/rescuers and those who died during the Holocaust,” said Davis.

The Annual Holocaust Art and Writing Contest doesn’t necessarily have to be an essay.  The entries can be an essay, a picture/drawing, or even a film. The students need to relate their work to something about the survivor/rescuer they listened to online.

Eighth-grader Jonathan Garcia said, “I think the contest gives you an understanding of what happened to all the Jews and people during the Holocaust.”

The Holocaust was a horrific event in history that lasted from 1933-1945. It involved the Nazi party of Germany slaughtering the Jews in inhuman ways.  The Nazi leader was a man named Adolf Hitler.  Hitler created concentration camps where the Jews were put to work until they died, or they were killed in gas chambers.  Over 17 million people were killed during this genocide, around 6 million of who were Jewish.

“It teaches the students of an atrocity that should never happen again,” said Davis when asked what she thought the contest educated her students on.