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
