ALBANY - The Board of Regents and the New York State Archives have selected Daniel Mann, an eighth grade student at the Felix Festa Middle School, and Laura Caccavo, a ninth grade student at Clarkstown High School North, as the recipients of the 2003 Laura and Robert Chodos Award for Excellence in Student Research Using Historical Records, Grades 6-8 and 9-12 respectively.
The awards, which include a framed certificate and a cash gift, will be presented to Daniel and Laura at a luncheon ceremony at the State Education Department in Albany on November 13, 2003. Daniel's teachers, Barbara Kalmar and Laura Padilla, and Laura's teachers, Penelope Macias and Christina Teresa Vickery, will also be recognized at the luncheon.
Theses awards are presented annually to a student or group of students in New York State who have made outstanding use of historical records in their research. It recognizes the students' work for demonstrating excellence based on specific criteria: using a variety of historical records, drawing on information from those records; and interpreting and integrating that information with creativity and imagination.
In a video documentary entitled The Ghost of Oswego, Daniel uses historical records from the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and the Rockland Center for Holocaust Studies to examine the role of the Fort Ontario Camp in Oswego, NY as a safe haven for holocaust survivors.
The documentary further explores whether the US government did enough to help European refugees in the 1930's and 1940's by examining historic documents such as photos, newspaper articles, and memos to President Roosevelt.
Using an extensive variety of sources from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, and the New York Public Library (Dorot Jewish Division), Laura produced the video documentary, When the Golden Door Slammed Shut, which examines two sides of the U.S. role in aiding German Jews seeking refuge in America.
Historic documents used to support the claims made in the video include Presidential Executive Orders, The Immigration Act of 1924, newspapers, and photographs. The documents are combined with interviews with history scholars to consider difficult questions about U.S. involvement in assisting those seeking refuge from persecution.
The annual Archives Awards program recognizes outstanding efforts in archives and records management work in New York State by a broad range of individuals and organizations. A complete list of this year's award recipients follows:
William Hoyt Advocacy Award
Thomas G. Clingan, Albany County Clerk
Program Excellence in a Historical Records Repository
Canajoharie Library and Art Gallery
William H. Kelly Award for Excellence in Local Government Archival Program
Development
Ulster County
Cheryl Steinbach Award for Excellence in Local Government Records Management
Niagara County
Excellence in State Agency Archival Program Development
Binghamton University
Debra E. Bernhardt Award for Excellence in Documenting New York's History
Consumer/Expatient/Survivor Oral History Project
Regents Award of Distinction for Student Research
Ludlum Elementary School, Hempstead School District
Laura and Robert Chodos Award for Excellence in Student Research Using Historical
Records, Grades 4-5
Kamisha Anderson, Izeele Riojas, Charisse Strong, Derrick Brown, Luchen Thomas,
Kiarivel Peralta, DeQuan Mitchell, Peter Collins, Stephanie Custillo, Norma
Rivera, Davine Nichols
Joshua Rivera, Gabriel Devoe, fifth graders at P.S. 197 M, Manhattan.
Teacher: Joan Weisberger.
Laura and Robert Chodos Award for Excellence in Student Research Using Historical
Records, Grades 6-8
Daniel Mann, 8th grader at Felix Festa Middle School, Clarkstown School District.
Teachers: Barbara Kalmar and Laura Padilla
Laura and Robert Chodos Award for Excellence in Student Research Using Historical
Records, Grades 9-12
Laura Caccavo, 9th grader at Clarkstown High School North
Teachers: Penelope Macias and Christina Teresa Vickery
Bruce W. Dearstyne Educator Award for Excellence in the Use of Local Government
Records
Larry Slanovich, Yorkshire-Pioneer School District, Yorkshire, New York