BY KELLI GILE
South Pointe 8th Grader, Hailey Shi, with Holocaust survivor, Engelina Billauer, and the artwork that her story inspired the young artist to create. (Photo Courtesy: Kelli Gile)
Walnut — Hailey Shi, an 8th Grader at South Pointe Middle School, has been named a National First Place Winner in the 15th Annual Holocaust Art & Writing Contest, presented by Chapman University and the 1939 Society.
Shi learned she was a semifinalist from her Honors Art Teacher, Trinidad Garcia. She attended an Awards Ceremony on March 7 with her proud parents, Garcia, and Principal Susan Arzola.
This year, students from 175 schools across 20 states entered the national contest. Middle school and high school students created poetry, artwork or films in response to survivors’ oral testimonies about their Holocaust experiences.
About 40 survivors, their families, and the young students who told their stories of hope and survival came together for the event held at Chapman University’s Memorial Hall.
“When Hailey took the stage and shared the story behind the art, the room silenced. Mrs. Billauer stood and listened. It immediately brought the artwork to life and both the artist and subject were changed from the experience. It was a remarkable moment and we all felt it,” said Principal Arzola.
The 13-year-old artist learned about the contest while she was looking online for a competition to help build her portfolio for college. The contest required research, listening to testimonies, and then creating the art piece about the story. Shi began the process by listening to oral testimonies and eventually selected survivor Engelina Billauer for her artwork.
“I chose her because her story was the only one I listened to for the entire time,” she said.
It took Shi four weekends, working six hours each day, to create her entry titled “Never Again.” The piece combines sketch and watercolor techniques to depict a 15-year-old Billauer and her older sister, Frieda, who were separated from their deaf parents and taken away by the Nazis in 1942.
“When they were first separated, they boarded a train. A Nazi officer made the young girls stay back to clean the train tracks. They looked up and saw their parents arrive on another bus and they ran onto the bus to comfort them. But a Nazi officer saw them, forced them out, and told them they would see them again,” Shi explained. Billauer used sign language, but didn’t know if her parents knew what was happening.
“I named [the artwork] Never Again because they never saw each other again, and I hope the Holocaust never happens again,” Shi added.
It ended up being a day she would never forget. Shi spotted Engelina Billauer with her husband at the reception held before the event. “We saw the couple walking. I didn’t know she would be there and felt very lucky,” she said. Shi was one of the only contestants who had the opportunity to meet the subject of their project. The pair took a photo with the original artwork. Shi also received a copy of the Jewish Journal that featured the survivor’s story.
“Meeting her was very wonderful. I hope that people generations from now will still hear it and understand that it was a very hard time to live through, but it will never be forgotten,” Shi said.
Shi won $500 and an all-expense paid trip to Washington D.C. to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
