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Addressing Hate in a Digital Age

by Josh Kerr | Dec 22, 2021

Westwood Collegiate Student Wins Award

This year's Mina Rosner Human Rights Award winner, Nathan Varghese, is a senior at Westwood Collegiate who spent last year as an intern at the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada. Varghese is one of the founding members of the Westwood Historical Society, through which he's acting as editor for an upcoming Holocaust education documentary. His efforts for the Historical Society have led him to notice parallels and trends between past atrocities and situations we find ourselves in today. 

Varghese's essay, Hashtag Hate: The Rise of Social Media Antisemitism in the 21st  Century,   thoughtfully looks at the rise and prevalence of antisemitism in our lives currently and how social media is acting as a vessel for hateful ideas and actions. 

Each year, the Mina Rosner Human Rights Award is presented to a grade 9-12 student who has written an essay on human rights. The award, a monetary prize, is financed through the Mina Rosner Memorial Fund, endowed at the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba.

We encourage you to take the time to read Nathan's amazing essay. It can be found on the JHCWC website at www.jhcwc.org/holocaust-education/mina-rosner-essay-contest/award-winners