Seven MMI Preparatory School students placed in the annual Israel T. & Mildred Klapper Memorial Holocaust Essay Contest. Pictured are, from left: Serena Novotney, Nathan Sissick, Darren Zheng, advisor Jennifer Novotney, Robert Orbin, and Daniella Vasquez. Missing from photo are: Peter Walko and Paige Machulsky ’20.
                                 Submitted photo

Seven MMI Preparatory School students placed in the annual Israel T. & Mildred Klapper Memorial Holocaust Essay Contest. Pictured are, from left: Serena Novotney, Nathan Sissick, Darren Zheng, advisor Jennifer Novotney, Robert Orbin, and Daniella Vasquez. Missing from photo are: Peter Walko and Paige Machulsky ’20.

Submitted photo

Award winners announced from 2020 and 2021

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Seven MMI Preparatory School students placed in the annual Israel T. & Mildred Klapper Memorial Holocaust Essay Contest.

Due to COVID-19, the 2020 contest was postponed until this year so award winners were announced for both years.

Nathan Sissick (Middle School category) and 2020 graduate Paige Machulsky (High School category) captured first place in the 2020 contest. Robert Orbin (Middle School) and Darren Zheng (High School) finished in second place.

The 2020 essay topic focused on the rise of both Anti-Semitism worldwide and the number of “history revisionists” who deny the Holocaust ever occurred. Students were asked to imagine how they would respond to a Holocaust denier and list what documentation they would cite to demonstrate that the denier’s belief is false, and that the Holocaust actually did occur.

Serena Novotney placed first in the Middle School category of the 2021 contest and Peter Walko and Daniella Vasquez came in first and second, respectively, in the High School category.

For the 2021 essay topic, students were asked to write their response to people who say, “A lot of people have suffered in history. What is so special about what Hitler did to the Jews?”

The Israel T. & Mildred Klapper Memorial Holocaust Essay Contest marked its 26th anniversary this year. The contest is sponsored jointly by the Hazleton Jewish Community Council and the Greater Hazleton Ministerial Association. It features Middle School (grades 7 and 8), High School (grades 9-12) and Post High School categories. Students in the Middle School and High School categories are asked to submit an essay that is no more than 300 words on the given topic. A panel of judges chosen by the Greater Hazleton Ministerial Association read each essay and selected the winners.