Every year, The Jewish Community Relations Council hosts the annual Israel Arbeiter Essay Contest as a tribute to Arbeiter himself, who was a survivor during the Holocaust as a young boy. Students starting from the sixth all through the twelfth grade are eligible to compete and the top three winners are chosen on four characteristics in their essay; originality, knowledge, style, and depth and a requirement of four to eight hundred words.
Students are also required to choose one of the writing prompts either to talk about “what an individual might do today, alone or as part of a group to combat the growing tide of racism, discrimination, and anti-Semitism.” The second prompt was focused on a time “when you or someone you know faced prejudice or bullying “ and their learning experience from it.
Two of the top three winners in the upper division are Malden High students, Senior Sherley Maximin with “The Night of Broken Glass, The Broken Promises” for first place and Junior Joanne Ho for “Recognition and Inspiration” for third place.
The basis behind Ho’s essay, “ Recognition and Inspiration” explained in depth on today’s society how “ little remarks that seem harmless or are deemed just playful banter are actually what allows racism to continue to exist today” which are then “embed racism into our communities without us even knowing.”
Originally, she just wrote the essay considering it as an assignment from history teacher Marsha Healy, but once she begin working on it, there was a sudden realization of the importance behind this essay in which she “wanted to share it with more than just [her] history teacher” and so that led her to entering the essay contest.
Recalling the moment back to when she had received the email of congratulations for third place, there was a feeling of shock. Prior to that week before, she had also placed third in the MIAA GWS Essay contest which “dawned on [her] that [she] had the potential to inspire people.”
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