Montgomery County Public Schools announced the winners of its first ever United We Learn: Combating Hate through the Arts contest, during the Board of Education’s May 22 meeting.

MCPS received hundreds of submissions for the contest. Winners were announced at the elementary, middle and high school levels in four categories.  

In March, the district, in partnership with the Faith Community Advisory Council, the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights,the Montgomery County Human Rights Commission and the Committee on Hate/Violence, launched the contest, with a goal of providing students with a creative, structured opportunity to explore issues of prejudice and learn about the values of respect, diversity and civility. The contest was open to students from all grade levels.

Submissions, which were judged by level (elementary, middle and high) and by medium, were created by groups of two students or more. The categories were: written word, performance, visual art and multimedia.

Winning submissions will be published, printed or broadcast through MCPS media platforms.

The winners are:

 

Elementary — Performance

 

First Place

Ivy Slocum & Anniek Voeten

“That's What I Say”

Piney Branch Elementary School

 

Second Place

Mary McGinn's Third Grade Class

“Theme Song for Original Opera - We Fall From Judgment”

Stedwick Elementary School

 

Third Place

Talea Haines & Nora Thompson

Untitled

Wilson Wims Elementary School

 

Elementary — Video/Audio

 

First Place

Bethanya Samuel  & Classmates

“The Children Are Watching”

 Burnt Mills Elementary School

 

Second Place

Rosalie Aschrafi & Jeremy Kim

“Exploring Diversity in Our Community”

William B. Gibbs Jr. Elementary School

 

Third Place

Mariam Baldwin, Ava Gilbert & Ella Gilbert

“Learn to Love”

Cloverly Elementary School

 

Elementary — Visual Art

 

First Place

Rebecca Randall & Virginal Smith's 5th Grade Class:

Ezequiel Baxter; Allison Bordon; Cynthia Carbajal; Gianella Castellares; Jason Castillo; Elijah Head; James Hyman; Caitlyn Johnson; Samuel Kaganzev; Jacob Malone; Emma Mungra; Dylan Oliver; Babak Rownaghi; Nissi Sigei; Maya Singh; Serenity Smith; Joyce Somuah; Vida Sulureh; Marjorie Suthard; Malachai Wallace; Christopher Yuan; Chelsy Zambrano Peralta; Zack Boyle, Joanna Czekanski, Arjin Israa, Luca Sotomarino

“Transformation”

Clearspring Elementary School

 

Second Place (tie)

Patricia Kennedy's 4th Grade Art Class:

Douglas Alvalos; Angel Climaco; Edwards Gomez; Kimberlyn Gonzalez; Nataly Guerra; Julio Lainez; Emily Mejia; Nyla Obiezu; Heidi Perez Reyes; Anthony Quinteros; Olga Quinteros; Dajana Ramirez;  Alicia Reyes; Genesis Reyes; Genesis Rivera; Helena Rosenblum; Ethan Deavers; Cristaly DeLeon Sales

“Respect What You See In Others”

Gaithersburg Elementary School

 

Second Place (tie)

Debbie Vanegas & Amra Nansimbi's 4th Grade Art Class

“Elevate”

Glenallan Elementary School

 

Third Place

Vita Kuybeda & Dhruv Srivastava

“Lumos - Spread the Light”

Spark M. Matsunaga Elementary School

 

Elementary — Written

 

First Place

Lily Eames Scheckner & Alicia Salazar Gaylord

“Flame of Hope”

Rock Creek Forest Elementary School

 

Second Place

Sofia Battistel & Harper Chadwick

“What's Kindness?”

Candlewood Elementary School

 

Third Place

Belinda Adu, Lindsey Quintanilla, Sofia Rodriguez & Katelyn Terry

“Falling from Judgment - An Original Opera”

Stedwick Elementary School

 

Middle — Video/Audio

 

First Place

Momoreoluwa Alade & Mayeni Kpenge

“Hatred vs. Love”

A. Mario Loiederman Middle School

 

Second Place

Pragya Kumar, Abigail Pak & Shriya Yavasani

“I Am Me”

Hallie Wells Middle School

 

Third Place

Jasmine Wang & Hannah Yan

“Stand Up”

Hallie Wells Middle School

 

Middle — Visual Art

 

First Place

Arunima De, Luyanda Dlamini & Maribel Thomas

“Hallie Wells MS 2016-2017”

Hallie Wells Middle School

 

Second Place

Navin Durbhakula, Lucy Lin & Amberly Wu

“Pressures of Society”

Herbert Hoover Middle School

 

Third Place (tie)

Felipe Beltran, Phoebe Kantor, Madeline Montemurro, Andrea Rentel

“Equality Tree”

John Poole Middle School

 

Third Place (tie)

Joann Cho & Alison Wang

“;”

Ridgeview Middle School

 

Middle — Written

 

First Place

Emily Barr & Sidra Hoffman

“Am I Accepted: A Transgender Story”

Sligo Middle School

 

Second Place

Kayla Sinkler & Kirsten Sinkler

“We Overcame”

Robert Frost Middle School & DuFief Elementary School

 

Third Place

Milla Brizhik & Tessa Brizhik

“Let's Talk”

John Poole Middle School

 

High — Performance

 

First Place

Zack Sieff & Gabrielle Zwi

“Without a Label”

Walter Johnson High School

 

High — Video/Audio

 

First Place

Ellie Creedon, Kaley Fisher, Sean Fitzgerald & Anastasia Goldberg

“Uniting Through Dance”

Poolesville High School

 

Second Place

Cacharelle Bonard Grimshaw, Tyiana Duffin, Londin Marshall, Tiffany Morales-Tejada & Westley On

“Hatred...I Wish You Knew Me”

Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents (RICA)

 

Third Place

Dylan Burgoon, Alyssa Craig, Kai Elwood-Dieu, Tia Merotto & Emma Urofsky

“Doofus and Dylan”

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School

 

High — Visual Art

 

First Place

Sydney Acuff & Cecelia Bauer

“Marching for Justice”

Montgomery Blair High School

 

Second Place (tie)

Cole Cerulli, Olivia Dantzler, Peyton Diederich, Jacob Hoffpauir, Alyza Hussong, Adam Kolb, Roberto Mejia, Lukress Nguehou Keuda, Brian Orellana, Lisa Patel, Andrea Rodriguez, Rio Salazar, Michelle Sung & Sachi Tumbde

“United We Learn”

Damascus High School

 

Second Place

Dwayne Benjamin & Jackson Harnois

“I AM Human”

Quince Orchard High School

 

Third Place (tie)

Behrooz Ahmadi, Meya Collings, Julia Kraft, Angelo Rana & Britt-Marie Weinberg

“MCPS Schools Embrace Diversity”

Winston Churchill High School

 

Third Place (tie)

Ariel Fromm & Kendall Price

“Students on a Field”

Montgomery Blair High School

 

High — Written

 

First Place

Angela Wu & Byron Wu

“A United Chess Set”

Thomas S Wootton High School & Robert Frost Middle School

 

Second Place

ESOL 4 and AP Language Students at Rockville High School

“Rockville Strong Letter Exchange”

Rockville High School

 

Third Place

Jennifer Nornoo & Priscilla Nornoo

“What's the Point?”

Paint Branch High School

 

Links to photos of the winning visual arts submissions can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/erg4r3602350f8m/AAD6pDfoYQOJREM1Ik5FPz3ma?dl=0