Alexa Ungerecht, class of 24, recently won an award and got a scholarship for the Idaho Community Foundation’s Alois and Marie Goldmann Scholarship, which is a scholarship based in the memories of the holocaust. Ungerecht shares:

Ungerecht’s essay’s title was “Surviving the Unimaginable: Viktor Frankl’s Story of Resilience.” which focused on Man’s Search for Meaning, which is a Viktor Frank memoir. Ungerecht says that she showed a great interest in studying and learning about the Holocaust for many years and read Frankl’s memoir for English senior year, even preparing a presentation about him.

Ungerecht emphasizes the fact that it was not inspiration that drove the creation of this essay—

It was concern:

“I[was] rather troubled by surveys that show how little people know about the Holocaust. For example, more than half of American adults do not know how many Jews were killed from genocide or that Hitler became chancellor of Germany through a democratic electoral process. Young adults and teenagers know even less but they are exposed to Holocaust denial posts on social media. Holocaust education is important because we don’t want to repeat history. Holocaust survivors alive today are seniors in their mid-80s or older. It’s critical that we think about the individual suffering and dehumanization behind the statistics.”

Ungerecht goes on to explain the benefits of education and the costs of neglecting the knowledge of the event. She also reflects on the feelings experienced when discovering the essay’s success.

[When I won] I was surprised, honored, and grateful. Anne Freund, whose father established the scholarship, called me. I felt so privileged to talk with her about her family’s legacy. I let Anne know how much the scholarship money would help even though the award is solely based on the essay.”

The opportunity for application to the Elois and Marie Goldmann Scholarship was advertised in multiple scholarship sites, like the Idaho Community Foundation and the College Board.

Ungerecht describes good places and opportunities for scholarships, stating:

“Rocky’s college and career counselor’s office is a good start. I also checked out other West Ada high schools’ career counselor websites. There are many websites with scholarship databases where students can search by different categories. Also, higher education institutions have scholarship databases. I read about this scholarship in the summer of 2023 and decided to apply. I liked its legacy in honoring Alois and Marie Goldmann and its purpose of educating high school students about the Holocaust. It was statewide and I met the criteria.”

Along with reflecting on the success and the scholarship, Ungerecht also reflected on the high school experience in general, “Senior year went by fast! I will graduate from Rocky on June 1, 2024, with a pre-engineering Career and Technical Education Program certificate. I work as a Head Lifeguard at the YMCA Tomlinson in South Meridian. I love my job.  I swam competitively for 9 years and was in the RMHS Varsity Swim Team all 4 years of high school. I love drawing and making jewelry. And I’m heading to the University of Idaho Honors Program this Fall to pursue a B.S. in Virtual Technology & Design.”

Alexa’s advice for the underclassmen is this: “Pursue your interests and challenge yourself but also have fun.