"Hiding in the Spotlight," the story of a woman with "Steel in her Spine."

ORLANDO, Fla. - Orlando Sentinel columnist Greg Dawson spoke to the students of Valencia, Friday, about one of the most personal aspects of his life: his mother.

Dawson's mother, Zhanna Arshanskaya, is one of 16,000 Jewish people to survive the invasion of Ukraine by Germany during the Holocaust. Only she and her sister, Frina, are known survivors to escape the clutches of the Nazi Army, during the Soviet era.

The two girls, then 12 and 8 years old, hid in plain sight of the Germans by "entertaining the enemies." The sisters played piano, acted, and sang under commission of the Third Reich.

"By the time I had heard the story, I was about 30," Dawson said. He was not raised by his mother, knowing she had survived the horrors of the Holocaust. "It was almost like hearing a stranger tell you this story."

Arshanskaya was given the chance to jump out of line of the impending death march at Drabitsky Yar through a bribe that her father, Dmitri, made with one of the Nazi soldiers. He gave the soldier his pocket watch and asked to turn a blind eye, so that young Zhanna could escape into the woods.

It worked.

Her father's last words to her were, "I don't care what you do, just live."

Dawson presented a short video outlining some of the trials that Arshanskaya went through, the students in the audience paying rapt attention.

The Jewish were taken from their homes and marched for 2 weeks, having no food and very little water to survive on. Not all of them survived.

Statues meant to pay homage to famed poets and artists, of the age, hung the corpses of Jewish people, instead. The city of Kharkov, Ukraine would never be the same.

He admitted that it wasn't too easy to write the book, "Hiding in the Spotlight."

"You can be a great sprinter, without being a marathon runner and vice-versa," said Dawson. Essentially, you may be able to write short news stories full of facts and objectivity, but when you try to write a more creative, personal narrative, it can wear you out.

Being a career journalist, he has learned this lesson all too well.

Valencia student Amanda Masri already began reading the book, after picking it up in the bookstore, a few days before the event.

"I wasn't a huge fan of his writing at first, because of his journalistic style," Masri said, "but it is interesting. He's very facts-oriented."

To everyone's surprise, sophomore Richelle Clark, received a copy of Dawson's book, with an exceptional addition within the first few pages.

Arshanskaya, herself, signed Clark's book, without anyone knowing beforehand. She is the only person to have this signature in her copy of the book.

Young Frina Arshanskaya escaped, but to this day will not divulge to anyone how she managed to survive.

The Arshanskayas were reunited several days later, a hospitable couple, the Boganchas, took them in.

In 1945, they were liberated by Americans and taken to a displaced person's camp in Munich, Germany. Larry Dawson was leader of the camp.

Young Zhanna could hide her heritage inside the facade of an Aryan child, but she could not hide her talent for music. Larry Dawson helped the girls organize a concert to perform in New York, where they both gained scholarships to Julliard.

Eventually, Arshanskaya married David Dawson, Larry's brother. By then, he was an established musician and a member of a quartet at Berkshire University.
The student audience was highly affected, in sharing these personal memories with Dawson.

"It was heart-wrenching to see the picture of his mother, standing by the tree," said Carla Rhodes, a sophomore. "It's as if you're right there, with them."

"I came to appreciate just how strong she is," Dawson said. Because she was a concert pianist, he thinks that she gained that "focus, discipline, and fortitude that you need to survive," through her passion for playing piano.

Arshanskaya was made a hero in the telling of her tale. Today, she is 83 years old.

Previously published in the Valencia Voice

District Board of Trustees Meeting - Spring Updates

ORLANDO, Fla. - The Board of Trustees for Valencia Community College met Tuesday to discuss such widely debated topics as course additions, grant proposals, and school budgets.

Ultimately, a few representatives (including select students,) will travel to Tallahassee to lobby for attention from the state government toward these issues.

Valencia is also introducing renewable energy training courses on the innovations of solar and wind power for Engineering and Engineering Technology students, to begin as early as this summer. In July, workshops will be held for all Community Colleges, provided by funding from various endowed chairs.

Dr. Deb Hall shared some information on last month's trip to Mastatal, Costa Rica, where students helped set up solar panels on the roofs of the houses of underprivileged families.

The school is taking another step in that direction. Valencia recently wrote a check for the ownership of property around Lake Nona, which will be used to build a new campus.

This campus will likely center around programs such as Engineering Technology. The first three years of development will be largely funded by philanthropic endeavors and fundraisers.

"Construction will take close to a year, just to break ground," said Valencia's President Dr. Sanford Shugart. Over the course of the summer, or as long as it takes, focus groups made up of students and faculty will be involved in naming the new building. As of right now, it is dedicated to its primary donor.

"The people of Lake Nona will definitely appreciate our contribution," Shugart said.

With the construction of this new campus, the goal is to curb the current over enrollment of Valencia for the future.

Dr. Joyce Romano and Dr. Kaye Walter's Spring enrollment report declared that there is currently a head count of 35,004 students attending classes college wide, up 9.1% from last year.

That's a total of 3147 more students.

While the average class size is still around 25 students, the Osceola campus is filled to 95 percent capacity. The school is going to add 6 to 10 more classrooms, temporarily, until requested funding comes through.

During the meeting, the Board of Trustees also discussed the bills planned for lobby at Tallahassee this year. They proposed new transportation opportunities for the students, advice for handling the exponential influx of students, and they are requesting a budget of $67 million from the state.

Shugart said this amount should cover the costs of funding the growth in enrollment. The school still needs to wrap up the construction for the Special Events Center on West campus, as well as other projects in the works throughout the college.

President of the Student Government Association for West Campus, Robert Stio, had some concerns regarding transportation issues for students, as well. He said there are not enough sidewalks around campus and that students are having larger issues with getting to and from school, in general.

Stio will propose to Governor Charlie Crist that students pay $6, per credit hour and once a year, for added routes and times for the Lynx bus in the area.

Considerations for a shuttle between East and West campus are currently up for debate.

The chairman of the Board of Trustees, Lew Oliver, said that in order to keep our school's success rate high, we as students, need to be able to make a difference in the political process.

"We can do this by mobilizing the students," Oliver said. "I don't think a single student has called a single legislator."

For anything to change, Governor Crist must decide which bills to veto and which to pass, this coming April.

Previously published in the Valencia Voice