Acaciawood eighth-grader finishes 2nd in national contest

Fourteen-year-old Miriam Scatterday likes to carry a notebook and pen wherever she goes. You never know what may inspire you, said the Acaciawood School eighth-grader. Her inspiration led her to win second place in this year s May Family National Art and Writing Contest sponsored by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Students nationwide were asked to prepare either written or artistic responses to this year s contest question: How do you think an individual whether acting alone or in a group could have helped to rescue Jews being persecuted by the Nazis and their collaborators? Scatterday describes her reading teacher, Hallie Williamson, as a Holocaust fanatic. Her class had just finished a unit on the Holocaust, so students already had some knowledge of the suthject, Scatterday said. When Williamson heard of the contest, the entire class participated. Before writing her poem, Scatterday, along with her class, thoroughly researched the topic. o d thinking of all the people I just read about, Scatterday said. A Tribute to Reseuers was born. More than 2,700 essays and poems and 570 pieces of art were entered into the contest. Entries were judged by a panel of survivors, educators, artists, writers and museum professionals. Scatterday will receive books about the Holocaust and a Museum Shop gift certificate to be used by her school. Members of the Varrio Underhill teann cheer a base hit by a teammate, above, during softball game against Westside Anaheim on Sunday at Boysen Park. Seferino Garcia, the executive director of Solevar, left in photo at right, gives instructions to a Westside Anaheim player during the game. Westside won Sunday's game, 9-8, in the first game of a best-of-five co-ed softball tournament. Their next game is sc