On Wednesday, April 18th, over two hundred students from both the uptown and midtown campuses congregated in Weissberg Commons for a Yom Hashoah program co-sponsored by the Zachor Club of YCSC/SCWSC and the Office of the Dean of Students. Although the event transpired a mere two days after students returned from Pesach vacation, judging by the attendance, word of the event spread quickly, and students felt it important to establish their presence.

Last year, before a standing-room-only crowd, the Shoah program featured TJ Leyden, a former Neo-Nazi Skinhead and now trenchant critic of his previous lifestyle. In an attempt to perpetuate the solemnity of the Shoah commemoration while simultaneously sustaining the outstanding attendance level, the Zachor Club attempted yet again to procure an equally memorable speaker. Upon recognizing their inability to obtain an applicable speaker, the Zachor Club decided to induce last minute creativity into their program.

After receiving advice from external sources, the Zachor Club opted to feature students as the evenings guest speakers. The students were requested to narrate familial accounts of Holocaust horrors, while emphasizing the need for students to rekindle the memory of the deceased. To quote one of the speakers, "When there are no more survivors to speak and they ask: who will speak about Yom Hashoah, we will all be able to get up and say I will speak…"

Yahrtzeit Candles cast ominous shadows on the surrounding walls, while the melancholy notes of Kel Maale Rachamim, led by Junior Class President Lou Shapp, pierced the silence. Midtown Campus Zachor Club President Yonah Israel then introduced the evening's keynote addresses. The speakers included Shaya Shtern (Uptown Campus Zachor Club President), Shuli Gertel, Elias Markovici, Yaakov Green, and Yonah Israel, respectively. "Each speaker remarkably touched on different aspects of the commemorations sedateness, leaving the attendees with much to ponder," exclaimed one YC sophomore.

After the recounting, the program persisted with a brief video depicting the terror of the Holocaust and the eventual settling of the refugees in the Land of Israel. The program then concluded with the singing of Hatikvah and Ani Maamin.

The focus of the programlay in encouraging students to participate candidly in disseminating the historical perils of the Holocaust to later generations. Unexpectedly, in the middle of the program, a midtown campus student, who had not requested to speak, rose slowly to the podium and quietly prefaced her remarks by identifying herself as the child of a survivor. She then recounted the trials and tribulations that her own father faced during those terrifying years in Europe.

In the words of Yeshiva College Student Council President Pinchas Shapiro, "The Shoah event demonstrated a tremendous sense of unity and purpose in commemorating this tragic event that occurred so long ago."