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Holocaust survivor Nesse Godin shares story with Madison students, June 8, 2004

All eyes were fixed on the speaker as she enunciated a forceful message weaved with breathtaking anecdotes in the auditorium of Madison High School. Every terrifying detail of the nightmare that Holocaust survivor Nesse Godin was forced to endure 60 years ago compelled an assembly of students to listen intently.

Godin spoke about her experiences, on man's inhumanity to man and on the need to foster mutual love among all human beings.

"I am with you today for one reason only: to share memories of the Holocaust and to help make sure that atrocities like it will never happen ever again," Godin told the students.

Godin marked the 20th anniversary of her annual presentation to Madison High School on her experiences from the Holocaust. In 1997, the school presented her with an honorary diploma.

Born Nesse Galperin on March 28, 1928, Godin was raised in an observant Jewish family in Siauliai, Lithuania. In June 1941, the German army invaded Lithuania and occupied Godin's home city.

"[My family and I] all were hiding in a basement at the time, and we really thought that bombs would fall," Godin said. "After the Nazis occupied the city, the problems of the Jewish people began immediately."

The Nazi Gestapo and SS units, with the aid of Lithuanian collaborators, shot about 1,000 Jews in the nearby Kuziai forest. Then the Nazis began a process of relocating Siauliai's Jewish citizens from their homes into ghettos under the deception that they were simply being moved. They were actually being prepared for death or hard labor.

"No one expects that people would do such evil things," Godin said. "Did we think on Sept. 10, 2001, that those evil people would kill all those thousands of people in our country?"

Godin maintained that the Holocaust was allowed to happen not only because of persecutors and killers but also because of bystanders and informers. These were people who stood by and did nothing to help those persecuted by the Nazis and also people who actively helped the Nazis by informing them about whom they should target.

"There were Lithuanian men and women who joined with the Gestapo," Godin said. "They became collaborators with that evil organization and helped them kill many people."

Godin implored the student audience, saying, "All you beautiful young people, whenever someone says to you, 'Join my crowd, join my organization,' please ask what [that organization] stands for."

The ghettos that Godin and many others were forced into were actually maximum security jails that were surrounded by barbed wire and constantly guarded. There was very little food for the prisoners, and the Nazi soldiers held absolute authority to decide who would live and who would die. On one of the selections of who would die, Godin's father was lost to her.

It was on Nov. 5, 1943, that an ominous new development took shape.

"We all heard something coming, and I heard a mother tell her child something I would never forget," Godin said. "The mother said, 'My child, the trucks are coming.' The trucks were a signal of deportation and separation of families."

Many prisoners from Siauliai, Godin among them, were transported by those trucks to the Stutthof concentration camp. At the camp, Godin witnessed many men, women and children being taken straight to the gas chambers to be poisoned and then burned in crematories. Prisoners were also stripped naked and beaten. Godin managed to survive the concentration camp by acting as healthy as possible so that the Germans would believe she would be useful as a laborer. She was transferred to a labor camp in 1944. From January to February 1945, Godin's labor camp was forced on an excruciating "death march" as the German army retreated.

"I would talk to God and ask him to let me live through the day," Godin said. "Every day I was seeing a mountain of skeletons." On March 10, 1945, the camp was liberated by the Russian army. Godin was eventually reunited with her mother in a shelter in Poland. She came to the United States in 1950.

Through the gloom of her tale, Godin extended a glimmer of hopeful light, expressing happiness about her life since coming to America and appealing for human kindness. "We are so fortunate to live in the United States of America, the best country in the world," Godin said. "I pray that there will be a day when we look at a person and we won't see a race or a religion. We will see a human being."

Students voiced positive reactions to Godin's presentation. "I really enjoy hearing about other people's experiences, and it is very interesting when it is something as dramatic as the Holocaust," junior Peter Bronez said. "I would never have been able to live through what she did, and I really appreciated her visit."

Godin is a resident of Silver Spring, Md., and has been married to Yanklow Godin for 58 years.




Reston churches explore their community relevance, June 15, 2004

Are churches relevant to a community? That was the prime focus of a panel discussion held at the Reston Community Center on Saturday. The panel of church leaders also explored how church can play a role in public life.

The panel, which was assembled by Peter Hotz, chairman of the executive board of the First Church of Christ, included Clarence Davis, pastor of Martin Luther King Jr. Christian Church; Sandi John, pastor of Washington Plaza Baptist Church; Lloyd Kinzer, a parish associate for United Christian Parish; and Maryl Walters, a Christian science teacher of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship.

"I am thoroughly convinced that the church has social and economic relevance, and it should be concerned with the general welfare," Davis said. "I think that it should play an activist role promoting issues like minimum wage and affordable housing. Without church, and without religion, society is bound to go adrift and lose its soul." Davis noted that, according to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, affordable housing is extremely rare in Reston, and he suggested that churches should help make voices heard on the issue at county board meetings.

The panel explored an extensive array of topics for an audience of Reston residents, explaining how churches can be influential on issues of social justice, family, youth and individual development. A common theme articulated by panel members was that the church can become irrelevant as a community institution only when it fails to help tackle problems such as poverty, teen pregnancy and violence. The panelists argued that the church needs to act as a teacher to guide people into living better lives and not to shy away from public issues.

"The youth need guidance and opportunities," Kinzer said. "The church must teach young people about the value of and God's acceptance of each individual and that we all have a destiny and role in society." Kinzer discussed youth-related problems such as binge drinking, drug use, drug selling and gangs. He noted that, according to a recent police report, gang membership in the area is up 33 percent from two years ago.

"I've learned that ignorance breeds fear," Kinzer said. "I've also learned that education can heal some of that fear and bring people together. Education is needed to increase knowledge and understanding to [reduce fear among people]."

John noted, "The church is a centering point, a grounding point for addressing difficult moral questions and providing hope, healing and compassion for those who are in need. We want people to understand that people need help in both individual spirituality and in mercy ministry, the [seeking of] social justice." John further mentioned that some of her church's activities in these respects include advocacy projects, joint services, joint worship, anti-discrimination education and peace vigils.

Spiritual development of the individual was another prominent theme of the forum. "Our God-given resources are discovered through prayer," Walters said. "Divine love is the key to empowerment, which makes individuals feel more capable and less intimidated by material challenges facing them. Only through spirituality can we get to the root of problems."

Reston resident Tim Crump, 15, said he was "surprised how well the [panel] put it together." Another resident, Leon West, 73, said, "[The panel]'s focus on the community was a good beginning," and he hoped it would lead to "more influential, positive help for our neighbors [by churches]," he said. Audience member Kathryn Westgard, 40, assessed the panel as a "meeting of minds and hearts intent on making a spiritual difference through different avenues." And audience member Adelle Jones, retired and in her 60s, said, "It was a wonderful forum, a coming together of the faith community. By praying and putting prayers into action, we can make a difference in the community."




South Lakes initiates mentor program, July 6, 2004

Everyone knows how difficult freshman year in high school is. Ninth-graders must adjust to an entirely new social atmosphere and face daunting new academic challenges. As a result, many ninth-graders find their first year of high school to be fraught with anxiety. At South Lakes High School, however, a special experiment to enhance freshman performance and lessen that anxiety is under way for the first time in the Northern Virginia area. On June 17, just prior to the end of the school year, the first session of a program to train student mentors for incoming ninth-graders was held at the school. Students from the 10th, 11th and 12th grades began their preparation to guide freshmen through their intimidating first year.

"The entire staff is very excited about this program and all its potential," said special education teacher Lindsay Trout, who also teaches leadership and student government and coaches girls' basketball. "What is great about it is that we are tapping into our best resource, our students. It is a very student-run program," she said.

The mentoring program is designed to improve ninth-grade performance by providing freshmen with mentors who are drawn from the upper grades. These student mentors can use their high school experience to help freshmen adjust to the new academic environment. First, the students who have been selected for the program will attend a series of sessions on mentoring. "We have a very diverse group of kids in the program," Trout said. "Our objective is to teach them their responsibilities as mentors."

Ninety students were selected out of almost 300 names for participation in the mentoring project. An executive board of 10 specially selected students serves as head of the program, with two of the students serving as lead executives. The two lead executive students are Spencer Ted Gibson, a rising junior, and Silvana Arandia, a rising senior. "After reading about [the mentorship program], I knew it was something I wanted to do," Gibson said. "I've always been interested in helping people, and I was interested in helping to guide freshmen along."

"Personally, I think [the program] will have a great impact on the school," Arandia said. "It will be beneficial to the students because they will learn to make the right choices."

The freshman mentoring program has been adopted elsewhere in the country. Trout and a few other faculty members at South Lakes originally learned about it from its use at North Canyon High School in Scottsdale, Ariz. According to data observed by the school, freshman attendance and quarter-by-quarter grades went up, and detentions and behavioral referrals went down, all after adoption of the mentoring program in Scottsdale three years ago. Now South Lakes has brought the innovation to the Northern Virginia area. "We were very gung-ho about it," Trout said. "We wanted good people, and we didn't just select academic achievers. We also selected athletes, musicians and others. The students come from a variety of different ethnic groups as well."

South Lakes Principal Realista Rodriguez was impressed by the mentoring program when she learned of it and was eager to sign on. "I had been looking for a program for ninth-graders going back to when I was an assistant principal at [J.E.B.] Stuart High School," Rodriguez said. "I understood the rigors of working with freshmen and how they are adjusting to everything." Rodriguez hopes the practice of mentoring will ultimately become a part of the school's overall culture and that other schools will also try it. "I hope that ninth-graders will eventually want to become mentors themselves to train the next ninth-grade class," Rodriguez said. "I would also like to share this experience with other high schools. Trainers tell us that we are the pioneers of this program in this area."

Performance Dynamics, the company supporting the training of the student mentors, is using its "Ignite Transition Program" to coach the new mentors in leadership, mediation, interpersonal skills and decision-making skills. Numerous committees deal with such matters as academic performance, social skills, communication and public relations.

"Besides helping the incoming freshmen, the student mentors will gain stronger confidence in talking to people and will learn more about work ethic, moral ethic, leadership and teamwork," Gibson said. To learn more about the mentoring program, visit http://www.seahawkstakingflight.com.




Keeping their options open, August 4, 2004

Academic life in college generates countless challenges for students with the numerous courses required of them. Given the heavy demands of their education, many college students seek ways to make their workloads less onerous.

At Annandale's campus of Northern Virginia Community College (commonly referred to as NOVA), many students find that taking summer courses is a useful avenue toward a more manageable academic career. By completing needed classes during the summer at NOVA, students can make their school year course load significantly lighter. It becomes easier to handle a set of courses when some of the required classes have already been cleared out of the way during the summer. In addition, summer courses usually have much smaller class sizes and thus provide more opportunity for students to receive individualized attention from the teachers.

"Students are able to concentrate on one class weaved into one summer session and focus on just that subject's homework," said Tricia Holser, public information officer for the Annandale and Medical Education campuses of NOVA. "During the school year, the students have to concentrate on work for many classes, but, during the summer, they don't have that problem."

Tuition for electing summer courses at NOVA is based on the number of credits each course is worth. For Virginia residents, the tuition is $63.58 per credit, and, for out-of-state residents, it is $211.03 per credit. Most courses are worth three credits. In order to elect summer classes at NOVA for college credit, students must register with the universities they attend during the school year to have their summer classes count toward their academic record. Different colleges have different criteria for giving additional credit through NOVA class sessions, and students should check with their counselors to make sure they know what is needed to make their summer work count for credit.

Myong Choi is a rising junior at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y., and is taking courses in statistics and engineering mechanics this summer at NOVA toward his major in industrial engineering. "The teachers are very informative, and they explain the material clearly," Choi said. "The only problem is that some professors are pretty hard to contact outside of class." Choi also said that the issue of money was important in his decision to elect summer courses at NOVA. He was able to get into the classes for around $300 to $400, as compared to paying close to $30,000 at RIT. "NOVA is really convenient for people looking for an education at a cheaper price," Choi said. "Also, it is always cold in Rochester, but the weather is much more moderate in Virginia. It makes it easier to learn."

Jamie Marian Miranda is a rising sophomore at Mary Washington University in Fredericksburg, Va., and is majoring in political science and international affairs. This summer, she is getting two required biology courses out of the way at NOVA. "Taking classes here is cheaper, and it is closer to home," said Miranda, who lives in Burke. "Since I'm double majoring, I needed more credits and decided to come here to earn them." Miranda also works part time at Murphy and Mocanchy Inc., a consulting and investigative firm in Fairfax. She has found that her summer classes at NOVA give her the time she needs to balance her job with her education. "[NOVA] is easily accessible and convenient when you have two obligations: school and a job," she said.

Oliver Rodriguez is a second-year graduate student at NOVA and a licensed optician. He earned his license through a three-year program at NOVA and is looking to earn a graduate degree in optometry at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in Elkins Park, Pa. Taking summer courses at NOVA has enabled him to accumulate the additional credit he needed in history, government, English and business. "The three-year program here at NOVA gave me a better understanding of human anatomy, and I have been able to earn 120 credits from summer courses," Rodriguez said. "I am now making $22 per hour as a licensed optician and can provide better vision to the public."




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