Holland & Knight's Holocaust Remembrance Project Celebrates 15 Years, Awards 10 Essay Winners Life-Changing Experience in Chicago
June 10, 2009
High School Writing Project Sponsored by the Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation Brings Students Together with Survivors
CHICAGO – On June 25, the law firm of Holland & Knight and the Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation will present its awards and scholarships to the 10 first-place winners of the firm's Holocaust Remembrance Project, an annual national essay contest for high school students designed to encourage and promote the study of the Holocaust. The 10 winning essays for 2009 were chosen from more than 7,000 entries nationwide. Each first-place winner will receive a college scholarship of up to $10,000. The Awards Luncheon at the Standard Club of Chicago will culminate a week of Chicago events for the winning high school students focusing on the new Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center and meetings with Holocaust survivors. This is the first year that the Project's awards activities will be held in Chicago.
Holland & Knight's 2009 national first-place winners:
- Elliott Appel, a senior from Olympia, WA
- Anna Band, a senior from Owings Mills, MD
- Sarah Ditchek, a junior from Woodmere, NY
- Steven Heiss, a senior from Long Grove, IL
- Samuel Kampa, a senior from Cokato, MN
- Kara Karpman, a senior from Silver Spring, MD
- Tamara Panici, a senior from Waco, TX
- Elise Pyo, a senior from Fayetteville, NC
- Jillian Schwab, a senior from Clarkston, MI
- Emily Watkins, a junior from Fort Mill, SC
To read the first-place, second-place and third-place winner's essays, please visit http://holocaust.hklaw.com.
"Holland & Knight established this educational program to serve as a living memorial to the millions of victims of the Holocaust and as a tool to educate our youth to combat intolerance," said Holland & Knight Managing Partner Steven Sonberg. Chicago partners Steven Elrod and Peter Friedman are the Chairs of the 2009 Program. Both explain that the firm takes great pride in affording this opportunity to students each year, and both are particularly proud to host the annual events in Chicago, in coordination with the opening of the new Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.
In addition to the prizes awarded to the 10 first-place winners, 10 second-place winners and 10 third-place winners also receive cash prizes, medals and certificates. The 10 first-place winners will also participate in intense seminars and testimony from historians and survivors. Other events include:
Week-Long Immersion with Holocaust Survivors, June 22-25
The week-long experience for the students, educators and survivors will take place June 22-25. The activities will include: a panel discussion of the 1970s legal conflict that ensued between the Village of Skokie and a Neo-Nazi group in Chicago; a tour of the Hellenic Museum and visit with Next Generation Holocaust Survivor Dr. Mimis Cohen; a reception with Clemantine Wamariya, survivor of Rwanda genocide; and private testimonials of six Holocaust survivors.
Neal Bascomb Keynotes Awards Luncheon in Chicago, Ill., June 25, 2009
The awards luncheon, now in its 15th year, will take place on Thursday, June 25, at The Standard Club in Chicago, Ill. The event will feature keynote speaker and best selling author Neal Bascomb, who will discuss his most recent book, Hunting Eichmann. The students will be awarded scholarships ranging from $2,500 to $10,000 at the luncheon.
About the Holocaust Remembrance Project: The Holocaust Remembrance Project was instituted by Holland & Knight in 1994 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps. Since its inception, the Project has awarded more than $750,000 in scholarships, cash and prizes to young writers and acted as a living memorial to the millions of innocent victims of the Holocaust. For more information and to read the winning essays, visit http://holocaust.hklaw.com.
Contact:
Angela Ruth, Holland & Knight LLP (813) 227-6331 or angela.ruth@hklaw.com
Aimee Steel, Holland & Knight LLP (202) 828-1895 or aimee.steel@hklaw.com
Related Practices