A pair of Cedar Heights Middle School students earned prizes in the Jacob Friedman Holocaust Writing and Art Contest held by the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center.

Both students, Laylan Tahir and Lucas Reider, are eighth graders in Sylvia O’Brien’s class at Cedar Heights.

“Students across the district, around the state and across the country study the Holocaust to learn about our world, past and present,” O’Brien explained via e-mail. “Many Kent students have spent several months studying the Holocaust and will attend three speaker symposiums. The Washington State Holocaust Research Center, located on Mercer Island, sponsors a contest each year to help further this study.”

This year the focus was on Anne Frank, who often looked out at a chestnut tree she could see from her hiding place, and a sapling from that tree will be planted in Volunteer Park in Seattle.

Tahir won first place in the seventh and eighth grade writing category.

“Her essay compared her mother, who was a survivor of the Saddam Hussein regime and genocide of the Kurds, to Anne Frank,” O’Brien said.

The following is an excerpt from the entry:

Do you know the story behind my face? What do you see when you look at me? Do you see a typical teenage girl? Are you going to judge me without knowing me? I am a thirteen-year-old Kurdish girl; Anne Frank was a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl. They say there is no such thing as perfection. Although I believe that if people had more respect and tolerance for one another, that saying would definitely be proven wrong. The world would be better.

Reider won third place in the seventh and eighth grace art category. Inspired by Anne Frank’s view of the tree from her hiding place, he created a picture of the chestnut tree reaching through the earth spreading tolerance and change, respect and peace.

“My piece shows that if people were more tolerant and respectful of each other, then the world would be able to work together,” Reider said in an explanation of the piece provided by WSHERC.

“The pictures of the children show that we must remember the stories of the Holocaust, and the Anne Frank tree unites the world’s people with the stories. The small, young people in the crowd show that change begins with me because my generation will need to keep the stories alive.”

There were more than 750 entries into the contest which was open to students in fifth through 12th grade.

Those who entered the contest were asked to address its theme by answering the questions:

How would your life be different if people were more respectful and tolerant of each other’s differences? How does change begin with you?

The Jacob Friedman Holocaust Writing an Art Contest is an important part of the work the Center is dedicated to, according to information provided by Janna Charles, who works at WSHERC.

It is through the study of the Holocaust that young people and adults learn about human behavior, social responsibility, moral courage, the importance of speaking out against intolerance, and the difference just one person can make.

Reider, Tahir and other winners will be presented with prizes and recognition for winning entries at an awards ceremony in Seattle on May 23.