March 2016 Volume 47 Issue 5
Cardozo High School 57-00 223 Street Bayside, New York 11364
The
V erdict
Library Makeover on the way
Inform, enlighten, entertain.
Holocaust Survivor Retelling History Elly Berkovits courageously recounts stories from Romania during World War II.
By Nidhi Gandhi Holocaust survivor Elly Berkovits Gross came to Cardozo on Thursday, Feb. 11, to share her experiences about the Holocaust with students. “It was a miracle I survived,” Gross accounts, as she looked back at her experience. Gross was born in Romania. During World War II, and in 1942, her father was forced into a labor camp by invading Hungarian forces. In 1944, Jews had to wear the yellow Star of David. She recalled being spit on by children her age and soon was sent to live in the ghettos. Elly Berkovits shares her life-changing story. Prior to being sent to Auschwitz in a ten injected people with diseases cattle car, Gross described see- like noma and typhus, taking out ing the dead bodies of the el- healthy teeth, and amputating ders and many infants, that were body parts for experimentation hanged from poles, while being and observation. Gross had lost told to walk to the center of the several teeth because of dangercity. Upon arriving at Auschwitz, ous infections she received from she, her mother, and brother Mengele and had no help or medwere soon separated; she never ication. saw them again. She was given a She went to the hygienist and tiny bar of soap and some cold begged to be spared from workwater. Those that were fit to work, ing in the Volkswagen slave labor stayed alive, and others were sent factory, but no mercy was shown to the gas chambers. to her. An officer asked if she was While at Auschwitz, Gross en- sick, but the only kindness she countered Josef Mengele, a key was served was when that offifigure in the Holocaust, who of- cer risked his job, and instead of
Considering the library is a place for students to bury their heads in books and stick their eyes to the monitors, they might not notice that it hasn’t been renovated since 1967, when the school was built. Besides the floors, which were redone almost fifteen years ago, and the walls which are painted every four years, the library is completely authentic. However, recently, Cardozo has received a participatory budget grant of 250,000 dollars from Councilman Mark Weprin, to re-do every inch of our library. AP of English, Beth Kierez, first discussed the renovation in a meeting she held with the English teachers on Friday, Feb. 26, but had been inquiring about the funding since last spring. “The plan is to completely re-do the library; new furniture, more computers, a lounge area. Right now, the library fits about 70 students, but after the renovation it will probably fit 100. It’s going to be modernized and additional separate rooms will be made, used as classrooms,” Kierez explained. “There is no official date yet, but to avoid construction while a majority of the students are still in school, the renovation will probably begin in the summer and will hopefully be finished before the next school year starts again in September.” Although many of them don’t know yet, several students are looking forward to the makeover our library is receiving. Junior, Joyce Yip, explained, “You can’t even tell the library hasn’t been renovated. It’s in such good shape and very clean. But it’s really cool that everything is going to be different, I can’t wait to see the changes.” School librarian, Ewa Womoczyl also expressed her enthusiasm. She said, “At the moment, roughly 720 students come into the library every day, and once the entire room is redone, there will be even more space for students to feel welcomed.”
to her history in a concentration camp, Gross responded by saying that she was very proud and wouldn’t ask for anything. She was finally in a position where she didn’t have to ask anyone for mercy or favors. She was also asked what she thinks about governments denying that the Holocaust happened; she responded by asking, “How can you deny that it didn’t happen? How can you deny the tragedies?” She added that people have to learn from history and that they must think about what’s written in the textbooks, because what’s written is more important than opinions. Gross graduated from LaGuardia Community College with a degree in fine arts, and has written a number of books like Elly: My True Story of the Holocaust and Storms Against the Innocents: Holocaust Memories and Other Stories. She is also frequently invited to schools and museums to speak about the Holocaust. Photo by Christine Chan
By Adriana Kostakis
torturing and dehumanizing her, told her that she didn’t have to work in the factory that day. The inhabitants of the concentration camp were liberated by the Allies on April 14, 1945 and in 1946, Gross married Ernest Gross, a survivor of forced labor and the Death March. The family lived in communist Romania for twenty years and in 1966 moved to the United States, where they worked in a factory and went to school at night in order to support their children. When asked if she ever took advantage of government assistance, to get a home or job due
Rise of the Robots at the Javits Center By Lydia Kolesnik
The Cardozo team, the Sentinels, participated in eight matches that took place on Saturday and Sunday. These competitions include 3v3 matches where teams are randomly paired off and are able to earn points. At the end, the total number of points are calculated to determine which teams are qualified for the playoffs. Cardozo did not place, due to a loss in signal during “robocom,” robot communication. “We were disappointed but things like this happens a lot. We were glad to be a part of the First Robotics Competition at Javits Convention Center and glad to help other teams out with their robots. From the looks of it, we might just enter another competition this Cardozo’s team, the Sentinels, work on their robot. year,” said Anmol Malhotra, junior.
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 20,000+ books fill the shelves in the library.
What’s New at Cardozo
Inspiring Women at Cardozo
Submitted by Cardozo’s Robotics Team
Photo by Adriana Kostakis
Cardozo’s Robotics team attended the 25th annual competition, hosted by FIRST Robotics, a nonprofit organization, on the weekend of March 11th. Sixtysix teams from around the world came together at Javits Convention Center to compete for spots in the playoffs. On Friday, the teams came in to set up their “pits”, which is the booth where they work on their robots, take measurements of the field, and drive around in test matches. “The experience was exhilarating,” said Chirag Nijjer, senior. “Seeing the passion all the teams of different backgrounds brought, to the forwarding of technology, on such a level was inspiring, leaving us with memories, ideas, and a new drive for next year.”
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