11-11-19

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The Pitt News

T h e i n de p e n d e n t s t ude nt ne w spap e r of t he University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | November 11, 2019 ­| Volume 110 | Issue 61

HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR REFLECTS ONE YEAR AFTER TREE OF LIFE

KICKIN’ IT WITH KIZZA

Rebecca Johnson Staff Writer

Shulamit Bastacky, a Squirrel Hill resident and Holocaust survivor, said she was touched when she saw her photograph on the Cathedral of Learning’s lawn as part of the “Lest We Forget” exhibit on Holocaust survivors — in particular when Chancellor Partick Gallagher noticed her picture. “I told the Chancellor, ‘Here I am. I survived. I accomplished something academically, professionally, and all those skinheads and neo-Nazis they are the losers, and I am the winner,’” Bastacky said. Bastacky returned Sunday evening to the William Pitt Union for the fourth annual installment of a Holocaust survivor lecture series organized by Alpha Epsilon Pi, one of Pitt’s Jewish fraternities. This year’s lecture was Bastacky’s second talk to Pitt students following a visit last year, this time speaking to a crowded Lower Lounge. Noah Rubin, the president of the fraternity, said that they invited Bastacky to return because of her inspirational speech last year and desire to speak again. “We brought her back from last year because she captivated the audience. People love her story, and they love her message,” Rubin, a senior political science and history double major, said. “She actually asked us if she could come back, and we were more than willing to have her.” Bastacky was born in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, on Aug. 25, 1941. Bastacky said 1941 was a year of upheaval for the Lithuanian Jewish community — there was a mass execution of Jews and a large relocation to concentration camps that affected many of Bastacky’s relatives. “70,000 of my fellow Jews were slaughtered execution style — men, women and children. It was absolutely horrible,” Bastacky said. “Many other Jews were taken to the camps, like some See Survivor on page 2

Junior forward Edward Kizza (09) hugs his teammate Jackson Walti (24) after Kizza put up the game winning goal in overtime. Thomas Yang assistant visual editor

HOMEWOOD CEC CELEBRATES ONE YEAR Martha Layne

ties,” Ellerbee said. “The collective is committed to seeing the quality of life improve for Within a year of its grand opening, more many people who look like me, and that gives than 4,500 Homewood community members me hope. I am thankful to play a part.” The Homewood Community Engagement have walked through the doors of Pitt’s community engagement center for one or more of Center, run by the University, celebrated its the 660 programs offered, according to direc- one-year anniversary on Oct. 18. This CEC, along with another future center in the Hill tor Daren Ellerbee. Ellerbee, a 2004 Pitt alumni with degrees District, are part of Pitt’s Neighborhood Comin communication and rhetoric and Africana mitments, a University movement to improve studies, said the opening of the center is a engagement with local communities through large step forward towards a better life for in- long-term partnerships. The University is making a minimum 15-year commitment, dividuals and the community alike. “Community practitioners like me have with a possible extension to at least 25 years, been and will continue to work collectively to to work with these communities on investaddress many of the inequities present in the ment, infrastructure, programming and staff. The Homewood CEC is a 20,000-squarelives of the region’s black population, including health, education and economic dispari- foot space that includes a science lab, a comStaff Writer

puter lab, first floor and lower level conference rooms, a seminar room, a classroom and an art gallery featuring work by local artists. These rooms are available for community and Pitt members to rent out. The center offers a variety of programs for Pitt and for residents of Homewood. For adults, the center offers career information sessions about employment opportunities at Pitt, data literacy and skills training and resources for local entrepreneurs to achieve success through Community Power and to Prosper. The Homewood CEC provides Pitt students, faculty and staff with a place to research and volunteer. There are also several programs for Homewood’s youth, including Camp BioE, a sumSee CEC on page 2


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11-11-19 by The Pitt News - Issuu