BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — Florida Atlantic University has recognized high school and middle school students from across Florida as winners of the Craig and Barbara Weiner Holocaust Reflection Contest, an initiative sponsored by FAU’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. Students were invited to create original works responding to the prompt asking them to reflect on what they learned about themselves and modern society through a Holocaust survivor’s story.
FAU President Adam Hasner praised the participants for engaging seriously with a difficult history. “Their willingness to confront what happens when truth is abandoned and hatred goes unchallenged is exactly the kind of thinking this moment requires as much as ever,” Hasner said. Among the high school winners were Danielle Eliaz of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (Written Expression, first place), Katie Zuniga of Charles W. Flanagan High School (Digital Media, first place), and Sofya Titova of Cypress Bay High School and Sophia Klein of David Posnack Jewish Day School, who tied for first in Visual Arts. Middle school honors went to Sophia Zann of Saint Marks Episcopal School (Written Expression, first place) and Ari Kliksberg of David Posnack Jewish Day School (Digital Media, first place), among others.
Now in its first year at FAU, the contest is tied to the Craig and Barbara Weiner Holocaust Museum of South Florida, which will be housed in the Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Holocaust and Jewish Studies Building currently under construction on FAU’s Boca Raton campus. Contest sponsor Craig Weiner called it a meaningful initiative that will give students’ voices and creativity a permanent home, “fostering education, remembrance and a deeper understanding for generations to come.”
The Wallach Building is designed to unite Holocaust education, Jewish studies, and programs related to diplomacy and leadership. Among its planned features are a recital and lecture hall, a traveling exhibition gallery, the George and Irina Schaeffer “Dimensions in Testimony” digital display, and the Arthur and Emalie Gutterman Family Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education, along with state-of-the-art classrooms.
