cap & gown yearbook
teen 2 teen 064
Holocaust History
Akiva students attend museum
anniversary; hear Clinton, Wiesel.
Tal Ershler
Teen2Teen Staff Writer
a hardcover book entitled Voices: The
Past Is Still the Present.
Culminating our studies was our
y eighth-grade year
trip to Washington, D.C., where
at Akiva Hebrew
we visited the U.S. Holocaust
Day School has been
Memorial Museum. We were
truly a hands-on learning
invited by Dr. Charles Silow
experience.
[director of the Program for
In school, we read The
Holocaust Survivors and Families,
Chosen, The Diary of Anne
a service of Jewish Senior Life of
Frank and Night. We had
Metropolitan Detroit] to attend
speakers who taught us the
the 20th-anniversary celebration
Bill Clint on
background leading up to the
on April 29 and had the honor
Holocaust and the nightmare
to hear author and Holocaust
of events during the Holocaust.
survivor Elie Wiesel and former
More significantly, we were
President Bill Clinton. They
matched with Detroit-area
appealed to us to honor our youth
Holocaust survivors, spend-
by not only remembering our
ing time with them during
roots, but also by carrying on our
Chanukah and Purim celebra-
traditions in a positive way as a
tions. We spent personal time
legacy
to all victims of genocide.
Elie Wies el
interviewing them about their
One survivor told us "we are
lives before, during and after the war.
the inspiration:'
Their recollections are being bound into
It is a lesson that our eighth-grade
M
Akiva eighth-graders with Holocaust survivor Ernie Cappel; students
attended the 20th-anniversary event of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Museum in Washington, D.C.
class will carry on in our backpack of
goals. History is not only in the past; it
must be remembered for a better future.
This was the ultimate principle by which
Mr. Wiesel lives.
As he said, "I decided to devote my
life to telling the story because I felt that
having survived, I owe something to the
dead. And anyone who does not remem-
ber betrays them again:'
❑
Tal Ershler, 13, of West Bloomfield is an
eighth-grader at Akiva Hebrew Day School in
Southfield.
Motivated By Memory
Dunckel Middle School student puts together
the school's first Relay for Life.
Lexie Sittsamer
Teen2Teen Staff Writer
S
tudents at Farmington Hills
Dunckel Middle School participat-
ed in the first Relay for Life at their
school on May 8. Fourteen-year-old Alec
Cohen, son of Carolyn and Steve Cohen of
Farmington Hills, planned the afternoon
event.
Alec has always participated in the West
Bloomfield Relay for Life as well as serving
on the planning committee. He wanted to
make the Relay for Life movement bigger,
in addition to doing something to honor his
Grandpa Bob, who passed away from can-
cer in November 2011 — and for anyone
else who has been touched by cancer.
He presented the idea to Dunckel Middle
School's student council and student council
adviser Julie Stahr, who supported Alec in
his desire to have a Dunckel Relay for Life.
Students were asked to collect donations
totaling a minimum of $25, with a goal of
raising $1,000 total. Expectations were far
exceeded, with more than 200 seventh- and
112
May 23 • 2013
JN
Students at Dunckel Middle School participate in their own Relay for Life.
weather.
Bill and Susie Graham of West
Michelle Silber and Sarah Yerke of the West
Bloomfield were the keynote speakers
Bloomfield Relay for Life and Alec Cohen and
of the event. Their daughter Alex died
Julie Stahr
from cancer in 1998 at age 17. The
Grahams spoke about their involve-
eighth-graders in attendance and more than ment with the American Cancer Society
$6,000 raised.
and Relay for Life as well as the huge
Participants spent their afternoon walk-
impact that the money raised will make.
ing the school track, which was bordered
Parents and staff donated funds, supplies
by luminary bags — bags lit by candles
and prizes.
that are dedicated in honor of people who
Susan H. Zurvalec, superintendent of
have passed away from cancer or those bat-
Farmington Public Schools, also stopped by
fling cancer — dancing to music, enjoying
the event.
snacks and water, and relishing the warm
Alec and Stahr were both overwhelmed
by the response. Stahr spoke briefly to the
200 students, reminding them that what
they were doing was important and benefi-
cial to the community.
Dunckel will be leading the Community
Lap at the West Bloomfield Relay for
Life, which is taking place from 10 a.m.
Saturday, June 8, to 10 a.m. Sunday, June 9,
at West Bloomfield High School. To partici-
pate, donate or for more information go to
http://main.acsevents.org/.
❑
Lexie Sittsamer, 19, of Farmington Hills is a ris-
ing sophomore at Western Michigan University
In Kalamazoo.