HILLSDALE, N.J.—Pascack Valley High School is pleased to announce that Lauren Shill, Class of 2021, won first place in The Holocaust Museum & Center for Tolerance and Education’s 23rd Annual Siegelbaum Literary and Visual Arts Competition for 2019.
Inspired by displays that Valerie Santo’s Literature of the Holocaust students had created for the classroom, Lauren, a student in another of Santo’s classes, decided to enter the contest on her own.
Lauren’s poem earned first place in the high school division. She received a certificate and gift card at a reception and awards ceremony in June at the museum, located on the campus of Rockland Community College in Suffern, New York.
PVHS alumni Brenna McGonigle and Sophie Altman, Class of 2019, won second and third places, respectively, in the Siegelbaum Literary and Visual Arts Competition High School Poetry Division.
McGonigle is at James Madison University. Altman is at Skidmore College.
According to the Holocaust Museum & Center for Tolerance and Education website, the theme for this school year’s competition was Resistance: Sketches of Courage.
The objectives of the competition were to increase awareness of the Holocaust, to highlight different forms of resistance and bravery, and to inform students of their own abilities to show moral courage in the face of injustice.
Judy Siegelbaum established the competition in memory of her husband, Dr. Harold Siegelbaum, whose vision helped found the Museum. The competition has three separate categories—prose, poetry, and visual arts.
Pascack Valley High School said it is incredibly proud of Lauren for her accomplishment and her important literary work.