Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage offers scholarships worth $100,000

Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage offers scholarships worth $100,000
By Gabriel Baird
October 23, 2009, 10:13PM
By Gabriel Baird Plain Dealer Reporter
BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- Three area students with messages of peace and tolerance will share $100,000 in scholarships.
The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood is sponsoring the second annual "Stop the Hate! Youth Speak Out Essay Contest."
Last year more than 1,200 area students applied, and Matt Soble, a senior at Solon High School, captured the entire prize for his account of how he and other members of the B'nai B'rith Youth Group chapter helped a boy who didn't fit in.
Twenty other students also won prizes.
This year, the prize will be split among three applicants, said Judi Feniger, the executive director of the museum, which opened in 2005.
The goal of the program is to foster thinking and conversation about discrimination that students see in their everyday lives and how they can combat it.
Feniger expects the number of 500-word entries to increase this year because more people know about the contest.
"We're expecting an even bigger response this year," Feniger said.
The contest is open to students in middle and high schools in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Stark counties.
Three high school seniors and juniors stand to win scholarships to an Ohio college or university. Their deadline to enter is Dec. 16.
The deadline for younger students is Nov. 4. They can win educational materials and money.
Each essay will be read by at least three of the more than 150 judges the museum has signed up to help grade the essays on the quality of writing, the originality of the content and the way they convey the theme of personal responsibility.
Finalists will read their essays at an award ceremony March 21, the night the winner will be announced.
More information is available online.
http://maltzmuseum.org/

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: gbaird@plaind.com, 216-999-5833