Congratulations to the following students for placing in the Holocaust Remembrance Service of Northwest Louisiana’s 38th annual literary competition.  More information on this program and service may be found at  https://holocaustremembranceservice.org/ 

High School Art
1st Place
Title: Pink Temple
Student: Charlotte White
Grade: 11
School: Caddo Magnet High
Teacher: Deborah Morehead
Statement:
Before the Nazi regime dominated Germany, there was a bustling and lively gay community in
Berlin. It seemed, at the time, that liberation and equality was just around the next corner for
many. However, in what seemed like a matter of months, the community was crushed under the
heel of Nazi Germany’s strict anti-sodomy laws. Hundreds of thousands were arrested and
imprisoned prisoned before the Holocaust, and during it, 10-15,000 gay men were reportedly
killed. They were forced to wear inverted pink triangles to mark them as homosexual, and
endured some of the worst conditions man has faced. The Nazis decimated what little power
the community had gained, and it took years for them to build themselves back up and find
community again after World War II. In the gay liberation movements of the 1970s and 80s, the
community began to wear the pink triangle insignia that the gay men in the Holocaust were
forced to wear, as a way of showing solidarity and reclaiming their history. Today, the symbol
still carries so much meaning to the members of the LGBTQ+ community, representing the
importance of our history and the solidarity we share with each other. Through remembering the
past, we can strive to create a better future and achieve full liberation.

2nd Place
Title: Heroes of the Holocaust
Student: Nhi Dao
Grade: 10
School: Caddo Magnet High
Teacher: Andrew Medlin
Statement:
My artwork honors the memories of seven notable figures from the Holocaust. I chose these
people because they all had played a significant role in the preservation of Holocaust history.
Some were protectors who risked their lives to save thousands of Jews, while others shared
their experiences of the Holocaust through writings that continue to be read to this day. It is
important to remember the Holocaust through the eyes of these heroes who had demonstrated
such bravery and generosity. Overall, I hope my drawing inspires the viewer to learn more about
their stories and the importance of their actions.

3rd Place
Title: Peace in Memory
Student: Laurence Harrison
Grade: 10
School: Caddo Magnet High
Teacher: Deborah Morehead
Statement:
The scene set forth juxtaposes a struggle, history, and outcome which is humanity at its darkest
with the strength and resiliency of remembrance to transcend future atrocity. A grandfather, and
Holocaust survivor, is depicted with a grandchild. Through this exchange, a rich culture is
recalled as those who were lost are remembered and their spirits honored. The cemetery and
headstones recall the people whose warmth, spirit, and contributions to the fabric of a culture
are honored and missed. The grandfather and granddaughter represent the passing of
knowledge, culture, and experience from one generation to the next.

High School Music
1st Place
Title: Night
Student: Caleb Joseph
Grade: 10
School: Caddo Magnet High
Teacher: Deborah Morehead
Statement:
My piece, based on Elie Wiesel’s Night, addresses the first theme, remembrance. The opening
is joyful, as the Jews were. The next, darker phrase represents Moishe’s warnings of the coming
horrors. But the Jews disregarded him, so the joyful music returns. The minor chord symbolizes
Elie’s family being taken, and the chord splits into individual notes reflecting his family being
separated. The following section feels harrowing, mirroring Elie’s experiences. The progressively
faster notes represent the Death March, ending with a major chord: liberation. Finally, there are
somber echoes of the opening theme, ending unresolved – he is free, but forever changed.

2nd Place Tie
Title: Reflections
Student: Hannah Hobson
Grade: 12
School: Caddo Magnet High
Teacher: Deborah Morehead
Statement:
Through deliberate silences and reverent melodic and harmonic lines, the lyrics and
instrumentation of this piece encourage an introspective contemplation on the importance of
keeping history alive as a lesson for ourselves and future generations. The instrumentation and
voicing consists of a female voice, oboe, and piano. These components are the currents of the
meditative tone, and they allow motion within the piece as the theme of the lyrics progresses.
The key change in the second half represents the potential for a hopeful reality in which history
is audibly memorialized and learned from.

2nd Place Tie
Title: The Danger of Silence
Student: Emma Elkins
Grade: 10
School: Caddo Magnet High
Teacher: Deborah Morehead
Statement:
Stringed instruments express the Danger of Silence because of the nature of multiple. The
sound swells and creates a powerful force. The harp represents the victims whose soft and light
voices are easily overtaken by the violin, viola, and cello. The timpani create a building sense of
danger as the harp becomes less audible. There are parts where the harp breaks through again,
similar to a light in the darkness, that is again quickly suppressed. In the end, the harp is joined
with the strings so that the harp may sing its song, without being silenced.

High School Poetry
1st Place
Title: Silence, Aftereffect
Student: Lilah Estes
Grade: 12
School: Caddo Magnet High
Teacher: Deborah Morehead
Statement:
It’s hard to understand silence— to comprehend the complete absence of something and the
incredible oppression that this absence brings. This void breeds only more absence, as the
silence of indifference leads to the silence of death. The two become indistinguishable; silence
is the cause and the effect. In this poem I try to explore the relationship between the two and
the feeling of loss that is left when they become inseparable. It’s an incomprehensible feeling
that I cannot put into coherent words; the poem is fractured and unsteady like my attempts to
understand this feeling.

2nd Place
Title: The Lost Hero
Student: Aidan Welch
Grade: 10
School: Caddo Magnet High
Teacher: Deborah Morehead
Statement:
I wrote this poem to tell a story, a story that few have ever heard, and everyone needs to know.
The tale of a volunteer, a soldier, a hero from a forgotten struggle. Witold Pilecki volunteered to
be captured and taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp to gather intel, for none knew
what truly went on inside. He suffered for two long years, escaped the camp, fought in the
Warsaw uprising, and was eventually captured and killed by the Soviets in 1948. His story was
hidden for decades, an inspiring story of bravery and sacrifice that must not be forgotten.

3rd Place
Title: I Know Why The Reaper Carries a Scythe
Student: Emma Dong
Grade: 12
School: Caddo Magnet High
Teacher: Deborah Morehead
Statement:
My poem reflects Jerzy Bielecki’s story. While marching to the concentration camps, they
passed through a town full of people who hid inside their houses. Nobody spoke up until
somebody threw roses from a window. The flowers were immediately trampled. That moment
captures how silence can be a form of oppression. Although it is difficult to relate to the
atrocities that people endured during the holocaust, most have experienced a moment where
they had a chance to speak up in the face of injustice. I hope my poem encourages people to
realize the importance of speaking and consequences of indifference.

Honorable Mention:
Title: The Garden of Life: For Joseph Sher
Student: Damon Johnston
Grade: 12
School: Caddo Magnet High
Teacher: Morgan Farmer
Statement:
Joseph Sher went through a lot in his life. He was conscripted into a labor camp, but was freed
by two friends, and was one of the only three survivors. He later survived typhus and another
slave labor camp. My poem is meant to illustrate that hope and despair are a part of life, and
how both of the flowers in my poem show how despair and hope are interconnected. It shows
how Joseph Sher went through life facing hope and despair. How his life was filled with despair
and gained hope, and how he faced both of them continuously.

High School Prose
1st Place
Title: You Don’t Apologize
Student: Arwen Haynes
Grade: 12
School: Caddo Magnet High
Teacher: Kimberly Handrop
Statement:
This piece addresses how dangerous incitement to genocide can be by showing how simple
grievances could turn darker with the right push. I tried to show how easy it could be for inane
differences to become what divides us if properly weaponized. My first contact with the
Rwandan Genocide was reading “An Ordinary Man” by Paul Rusesabagina my
freshman year, and I have been haunted by this story and the genocide since. In writing this, I
aimed to highlight the dangers of propaganda and put some sort of face to the unease I feel for
current events.

2nd Place
Title: Leading by Example, Hand in Hand
Student: Cal Alexander
Grade: 10
School: Caddo Magnet High
Teacher: Andrew Medlin
Statement:
My piece recognizes the influence of a leader’s actions on their people. I was not very familiar
with specific instances of state-sanctioned hatred prior to this essay, and I believed others may
be in the dark as well. I have strong feelings toward the treatment of genocide, and I feel that
much more action needs to be taken toward present issues of genocide, particular with the
Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. Ultimately, I want to stress the importance of unity to combat cases
of genocide through emphasizing how history can shape our thoughts, reactions, and methods
of prevention of these conflicts