Insurrection
“I was inspired by what I felt on the day of the January 6 insurrection. Watching the extremists march into the capitol building and walk over our democracy with that much hate was surreal.”
October
The Golden Fields
“My piece represents prejudice and stereotypes following individuals throughout their life. They are not ignorant of the eye, but instead of letting the stereotypes control their life, they keep walking on a path to success. The sunset shows the end of the old day and hopes for a new era with no discrimination.”
Search for Compassion
“My entry shows my experience as a student who has to attend high school on a tele-conferencing robot because of my disability. The scenes show every day life with the robot at school. The robot is always alone, with crowds of students passing by without acknowledging me. I would like to advocate for other students to show compassion for myself and other kids and teens who deal with disabilities.”
Made Not Born
“When I asked my class what word described their vision of Mental Health at our school, they all thought of the same thing. At our school they are leaders – they promote Mental Health – offer help and assistance to anyone that needs it – they are aware and feel responsible. They have learned from their partnership with Directing Change and RCOE that the future is up to them! We have to work together within our school and our community to bring awareness and help to those that need it… that requires leadership.”
The Importance of Respect
“Our word for this month’s prompt is ‘Respect’ to describe the world we envision that supports youth mental health. There are multiple ways of showing respect and it all comes down to each and everyone of us.”
Belief
“Belief has the power to change your whole outlook of your situation.”
Apprehension
“The painting was done with watercolor first, a medium often associated with tranquility and contentment. The colored pencil on top is scratchy and messy, symbolizing feelings of unease and anxiety. The subject looks away and pulls their hair back to reveal flowers stemming from a scab on her scalp. I’ve always struggled with anxiety physically and mentally. I have a tendency to pick at my scalp whenever I feel anxious, and I wanted to illustrate it in this painting. Watercolors are a familiar medium to me, whereas colored pencils are newer. The red columbine flowers in this painting symbolize anxiety but also fortitude. The person faces the flowers in the background, looking toward a hopeful future.”
Ambivalent
“My entry is a poem. It is about on protests that starts with a meaning but slowly it loses its definition. I want to give an insight on my frustration on those protests. There’s no specific protest I’m talking about. I will be talking about how protests start off with a meaning and a demand for a specific change, but that meaning slowly rots away when people who don’t understand the movement join in.”
Mysteries
“Mysteries is about a mystery that haunts some of the minds of today, it is a lesser known mystery but a mystery.”
Light
“Mental health challenges can be crushing. And the only way out is to get yourself out of that deep, dark hole and rise above it. This work portrays what teenagers need in order to make that step. They need to be able to see that light and that there is a better place after they overcome darkness. If they don’t see the point of persevering against their troubles, they can’t muster the courage to even reach the surface. Thus, the light shining down on this girl surrounded by darkness shows the importance of hope in a person’s world.”