My piece depicts my mom and me in a sunlit living room. I drew myself as a child watching my mother work to combine all of our different cultures and lifestyles as Hispanic Americans. The sewing of flags represents this unification. I’m grateful to my parents for guiding me through life and teaching me how to live in the US while not forgetting my heritage.
My film shows a teen girl struggling with the idea of sharing how much she loves her stepmother. Instead of speaking with words, she writes what she feels. This story highlights the challenges of being honest with the ones you love, inviting the audience to reflect on their own struggles with true communication.
This entry explores the emotional distance that can form between a parent and child during the transition into adulthood. The film reflects how young people often struggle to explain what they feel, even to the adults closest to them. It asks adults to recognize that withdrawal and distance are often signs of vulnerability, not defiance, and invites them to listen more closely to emotional cues that are easy to miss.
This is a letter that I never sent. It’s for the wish I’ve made more times than I can count – the quiet ache of wanting to be enough for someone you love deeply (especially when their love feels conditional). Sometimes our parents withhold approval to push us, but they still love us just the same.
As I grow older and experience more on my own, I realize that my hopes differ from the goals my parents have set for me. I wish that their expectations for me weren’t so rigid, because I often feel as if I lose my individuality when I try to fit into them.
It is important for our parents to know what we are going through. We have different experiences from them, and they can’t always relate. This can affect our mental health and our relationship with them. We want to bring more awareness to this struggle that students have with their parents.
Sometimes it is hard for my parents to understand me and for me to open up to them. Working with my team helped me to feel better knowing that my friends go through similar things. We want our parents to understand how important mental health is to us.
I want to help bring awareness to the fact that students are going through a lot more than their parents might realize.
Our indigenous Latino youth wanted an opportunity to express how they feel about their struggle in school. Being first-generations students means that their parents often don’t know the hurdles their children have to overcome to be successful.
My short video portrays the complex relationship I have with my parents as a transgender teenager. The end poem is a direct call out to the fact that my parents fully know that I’m trans, yet every time it is brought up in a conversation, they act as if it’s their first time hearing it. The film is an invitation to a party that I’ve planned for too long – one that only my parents are invited to.