Irena Sendler is a Catholic woman that saved 2,500 Jewish children during the Holocaust. She smuggled them from Warsaw’s ghetto; a ghetto is the poorest part of a city where the residents are lacking basic needs like food and health care. Every time she took one child she escaped death, because to help a Jew meant the person was risking summary execution (put to death). She helped create an underground network that ferried children in coffins, tool boxes, and under coats to non-Jewish families.

Irena Sendlerowa at the Social Security Office in Warsaw (circa 1949) Photo: ZGRZEMBSKA JANINA ARCHIWUM/EAST NEWS New York Post

When a Christian child died in an orphanage, Irena would give his or her name to a Jewish child. The key part was to never report the death. She would give the name and registry number so the child would be safe with a new identity. Irena then would write the original name down and bury it under an apple tree, so when the war was over the children could get their names back.

During the Holocaust the ghetto was surrounded by barbed wire and brick walls. Six to seven people lived in every room . Irena was working at the Citizens’ Social Aid Committee so with her job she was able to get in to the ghetto. Along with helping children get out, she created fake welfare accounts for Jewish families, because theirs were frozen. To make sure that the Germans didn’t go and visit the families, Irena added that they had contagious diseases.

After it was over Irena tried to find the buried names, but no luck. The city was so destroyed that you couldn’t even find your own backyard. Instead, Irena had to remember the children’s names so she can give them to the families abroad.

Overall Irena Sendler didn’t just save the 2,500 children, she saved so many more, future generations to come.

These are the final graphs of the two simulations I did today in science. We started out with three different species which are Shark, Minnow, and Seaweed. In each round the different species would try to survive. The way they remain alive is by eating, or in the Seaweeds case just by surviving. The Minnows have to each eat one seaweed plant to live for two months, and they can eat more to extend their population. The Shark has to eat two Minnows to survive, and two extra to extend their population.

The first time we tried the simulation it was not successful ( see the first graph). I think the experiment failed because we didn’t have concise strategy. The second time ( see the second graph) was a huge success. Our strategy was to have sacrifices in the population for the Shark to survive. And for the Minnows, the Seaweed was rationed just enough so that the Seaweed population would survive the two months. By comparing the graphs you can see that the second strategy worked better.

My experience giving my docent talk at The Brooklyn Museum was exhilarating. I felt exhilarated because I was so nervous that no one would be interested in my topic, but I pushed through and everyone looked impressed with my knowledge after I was finished. One thing I learned about note-taking is that you can’t copy the author’s words. When it comes to taking notes, I am now more comfortable with putting the information into my own words. One thing that is still challenging for me about note taking is not writing in full sentences.