Each year The Derryfield School chooses a member of the senior class to receive an award in honor of Simeon Kass, who survived the Holocaust as a young boy. Ray and Lori Boelig, whose sons Matt ’02 and Derek ’05 graduated from Derryfield, established the endowment fund for the award in 2007 to honor Kass, his life experiences, and his passions. “Uncle Sim,” as he was known to the Boelig family, was a Jewish Parisian whose mother and two young brothers all died at Auschwitz.
The award is presented in the fall to a Derryfield senior who demonstrates outstanding writing skills, an appreciation of other cultures, a burning inquisitiveness, and the disposition to take a position and challenge perceived opinions.
Anna Moskov, Director of Philanthropy & Engagement, announced the winner of the award during the Community Meeting on October 19th.
“This year we had seven excellent pieces to read, and I want to thank all the seniors who submitted their work. Their stories transported us across the globe, and each shared a unique perspective. Today we celebrate the winning piece, ‘Before I Knew Them.’”
Moskov then introduced the author, Megan Chu ’27, and read a passage from her essay:
Did I ever tell you about the time I went strawberry picking with my mother?’ She had. In fact, she had told me that same story about four times in the past three minutes. I was sitting beside her, carefully painting her fingernails a bright red. That color was always her choice. As I painted, she told me about going strawberry picking with her mother when she was younger. She remembered bending down to pick a strawberry, but then accidentally grabbing her mother’s toe instead. Her mother’s toenail had been painted the same bright red color, and at that moment, she could not tell the difference.
She giggled and laughed every single time she told me. Every time she told me, I smiled and listened. By the fifth time, I knew exactly what was coming. I knew when she would mention the strawberry, when she would bend down, and when she would realize she had grabbed her mother’s toe instead of the strawberry. Still, I listened.
Moskov summarized the heart of Chu’s story, which draws on her summer training as a Licensed Nursing Assistant (LNA).
“Megan’s essay brings her LNA training to life. She started her journey expecting to master technical skills like taking vitals and patient care, but discovered that the most powerful lesson of all was learning to truly listen and observe.”
In the essay, Chu writes about the residents she came to know during her clinical training: a former professional ballet dancer whose body still remembered her choreography, and a woman whose words at first she could not understand before learning she was speaking French. Each encounter led Chu to question her first impressions and to recognize how much of a person’s life exists beyond what is visible in the present.
“We meet people in the middle of their stories and often mistake that middle for the beginning,” Chu writes.
According to the Boeligs, Kass carried around a notebook everywhere he went, taking notes and writing down phrases – he was always learning, and was always inquisitive. Although he lost much of his family, what the Boeligs remember are his resilience and love of life. Kass honored the power of education to push back the darkness of prejudice, fear and brutality. He believed that knowledge, when combined with a burning curiosity and compassion, illuminates the most beautiful things in this world.
