Youth Vote Winner for Art Installation
Bao, Stefani, and Katie, Grade 10, San Diego
Teacher Tamima Noorzay describes the work behind this powerful art installation: “I wanted to incorporate #USvsHate into my Studio II curriculum. These students had already attended the San Francisco Jazz concert focusing on Human Rights and freedom, making this content a logical next step. Additionally, bill AB-10 was approved 63-0, requiring Title I schools to provide free feminine hygiene products to 6-12th grade students. I see this legislation as a recognition of female human rights and bringing dignity to a population who may not have the resources to provide quality self-care due to the exorbitant cost of feminine hygiene products. As our school received 5 feminine product dispensers, it offered a good canvas for art as activism promoting positive social and political messaging, inspiring students to create their own paths of inquiry and feel empowered!
“The research and learning were student driven. I asked that they find five inspirational women under 30 that they considered being ‘activists,’ learn as much as they could about these activists’ work, and find a strong quote from each. . . The art students created their own stencils and interpreted each lady with a color palette they felt fit best with the activist’s personality, culture or message.” Students decided to inspire peers to research the activists further: “The end game is that other students will be inspired to Google their names and also learn more about the work that these activists are doing.”
Youth Vote Winner for Poster
Alexis, Grade 12, San Diego
We were wowed by this poster, “Addressing racism and prejudice in the United States and beyond,” created by senior Alexis from San Diego. So were youth, who chose Alexis’ message as a winner that will be produced for all participating classrooms.
Alexis says, “I came up with the idea for this artwork by trying to decide which culture I should focus on. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to highlight the struggles of Latinos, African-Americans, or Asians, so I decided to try to create artwork that spreads a more universal message. I thought about how I could reach the entire world and realized that there isn’t one universal or “official” depiction of Mother Earth. This realization helped me come up with the message and the art itself, as I drew two faces of Mother Earth with different colors and spread various flags across their heads. I was inspired by our own teacher, Dr. Ensberg, to make this artwork, and by the posters for movies like Star Wars.”
Youth Vote Winner for Poster
Sky, Grade 10, Chula Vista, CA
Our Spring 2019 #USvsHate contest brought yet another powerful entry from the classroom of Sweetwater teacher Kalie Espinoza, made by 10th grader Sky. As Espinoza describes, “My classes were involved in a six-week unit about using their voice to speak up against the injustices committed against others. We read Night by Elie Wiesel, discussed the Pyramid of Hate, and reviewed many resources from the #USvsHate list.” Chosen by youth, the poster is now on the walls of participating classrooms across the region.
Youth Vote for Poster
Joseph, Grade 10, San Diego
This poster was a youth choice winner of our Spring 2019 contest; it’s now hanging in classrooms across San Diego. Teacher Ray Kinne notes that to prepare for this #USvsHate messaging, “Students researched current border issues and created a personal social justice piece.”
Youth Vote Winner for Video
Henry, Roland, and Patrick, Grade 10, San Diego
“When is enough, enough?” Henry, Roland, and Patrick, 10th graders in Cindy Page’s classes, created this moving and insistent message against bullying that youth chose as a spring 2019 video winner.
Winner for Message Innovator
Class of 2019, Grade 8, San Diego
Our first comic book #USvsHate message was an innovator in our spring 2019 contest, and we reproduced a set for participating classrooms! As teacher Cindy Jenson-Elliott noted, “Our 8th grade class read KPBS One-Book-One-San Diego graphic nonfiction book March, then watched films and read articles about the nation’s first desegregation court case, The Lemon Grove Incident. They time-lined, plotted, scripted and drew a graphic nonfiction book, The Lemon Grove Incident. Each child wrote and drew one page, and took a role in publishing the book.”
Winner for Message Innovator
Angelique, Grade 11, Chula Vista, CA
Our first coded anti-hate message was created by 11th grader Angelique! It was a Message Innovator in our spring 2019 contest. As computer science teacher Art Lopez describes, “We have a required Performance Task assessment called CREATE that is required for the College Board’s AP Computer Science Principles course. This PT CREATE program requires students to create a program for the course. It can be a interactive short movie, video game, or public service announcement, or any other programming idea they come up with. I suggested that a topic for a program can be a #USvsHate message. I announced this to the AP CSP courses I teach and Angelique decided to create one on #USvsHate. Here is a video of her program running; I also added the program code that she used!”
Youth Vote Winner for Performance
Alejandra, Community College, San Diego
Youth chose our first #USvsHate song as a performance winner in our spring 2019 contest! Singer-songwriter Alejandra explained her soundcloud entry, produced in teacher Christy Ball’s classroom:
I wrote and recorded this song by myself using Logic Pro X. It was an assignment for my English class which is rooted around intersectional feminism, we have been deeply immersed in the topic all semester. For this project, I wanted to create a beautiful message of love that all women including trans women, women of color, and women of different sexuality or backgrounds can feel inspired and empowered by. Too often feminism is centralized around white women and not all inclusive, and I wanted to change that narrative.
Youth Vote Winner for Poem
Henry, Grade 3, Cardiff, CA
This moving poem, a youth choice winner in our spring 2019 #USvsHate contest, was created by Henry, a third grader. As teacher Kim Douillard describes, “My class participated in a ‘poem-a-day’ challenge for the month of April. After the mid-point, they were invited to write anti-hate poems, many using “Paint Chip Poetry” as a tool to inspire their writing and elevate their word choice. 11 of my students decided to submit their poems to the contest.” Henry’s poem has become a sticker shared with all participating classrooms.
Youth Vote Winner for Essay
Elaine, Grade 11, Carlsbad, CA
Why We should Strike Hate Speech Out
This powerful call to “strike hate speech out” by 11th grader Elaine was a youth choice in our 2019 spring contest. As teacher Shannon Alberts writes, “This essay came as the culmination of a few weeks of investigative research. At the beginning of the year, an emergency assembly was called to address racist, religious, and homophobic hate speech on our ASB Instagram feed by several students. Concurrently, racist graffiti was found frequently scrawled on bathroom walls. Also this school year, the words “F Bobcats” and “N****r” were spray-painted in front of our school on our main sign. Students studied these articles as presented in our online publication. They also studied various authors and their responses to injustices in our civil disobedience unit. They were asked to write about a topic involving hate through their lens and either explore it outright or offer a solution.”
Youth Vote for Sticker
Alyssa, Nylah, and Layla, 5th Grade, Chula Vista, CA
This powerful call for women’s rights, a spring 2019 youth choice winner, was created by Alyssa, Nylah, and Layla, fifth graders. Their message will be spread as a sticker shared with students across San Diego’s participating classrooms.
Their teachers, including teacher Alex Hunt, described the backstory: “Students studied the work of Shepard Fairey in art class and completed a project on social justice/equity in their literacy classes. The literacy teacher did lessons focused on human rights, embedded in literature and informative text, leading towards a culminating project asking students to complete a piece of art representing or expressing their learning. The art teacher taught students about art as activism and messaging.”
Sticker, Winner, Youth Vote Winner for Sticker
Brett, Grade 12, San Diego
This stirring message refusing social division was created by Brett, a senior. Teacher Ray Kinne notes, “Students researched current border issues and created a personal social justice piece.” Chosen by youth as a spring 2019 winner, it became a sticker spread to all participating classrooms.
Youth Vote Winner for Sticker
Mariana, Grade 10, Chula Vista, CA
Tenth grader Mariana cut to the chase with perhaps the most basic anti-hate message of the year, a sticker winner in the spring 2019 youth vote. Teacher Kalie Espinoza describes, “My classes were involved in a six-week unit about using their voice to speak up against the injustices committed against others. We read Night by Elie Wiesel, discussed the Pyramid of Hate, and reviewed many resources from the #USvsHate website.”
Youth Vote Winner for Sticker
Sophie and Lilli, Grade 10, Carlsbad, CA
Youth chose this message by tenth graders Sophie and Lilli as a sticker winner in our 2019 spring contest. In the class of teacher Marisa Thompson, students said, “We used Lord of the Flies to learn more about the USvsHate movement. The hate we give will affect generations to come. We have progressed in hate over time while we should have been regressing. Stop giving hate and start changing lives for the better so that WE get to be the generation who makes the lasting difference… before it’s too late.” (This reverse evolution image originated from nextgap.com)
Youth Vote Winner for Conversation Starter
Jessica, Grade 9, Vista, CA
Jessica, the ninth grade creator of this powerful #USvsHate Conversation Starter (a winner of the spring 2019 youth vote), said simply this: “This was a true event in my life. I want people to see what I saw that bad day in my life.”
Youth Vote Winner for Conversation Starter
Mario, Grade 7, Vista, CA
This powerful #USvsHate conversation starter, chosen by youth vote, was created by Mario, a 7th grader. As teacher Beth Duncan describes, “Students were challenged to show tolerance, unity, acceptance, love, and pride through photography/photo manipulation. Each student that participated decided how to represent what was important to them through creative photography & digital editing.”
Youth Vote Winner for Conversation Starter
Melissa and Liz, Grades 9 and 11, Vista, CA
Youth voters in our spring 2019 contest chose this Conversation Starter, created by a ninth and 11th grader. As one of the creators described, there are “many Mexican Americans at our school. Some of them have the fear of not returning home because of deportation. I made this piece to represent that it was once our country too and that we should get along.”
Staff Vote Winner for Poster
Lucas, Grade 6, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Students in Renaye Notzka’s class in Wyoming found out about our San Diego pilot in spring 2019, and sixth grader Lucas’s entry became one of our poster winners! As Notzka describes, “Students learned about different forms of discrimination. Then they chose one type they would like to raise awareness about through art. This child chose ableism. He would like people to see that people with disabilities should be treated fairly and given support to reach the American Dream.”
Staff Vote Winner for Poster
Sharon, Grade 12, San Diego
Zoom in on this poster to see its components of a “bridge” counteracting hate! This innovative message by Sharon, a 12th grader, was made into a poster for all participating classrooms. Sharon’s teacher, Phil Ensberg, describes how the goal inspiring the work was to “fight bias in messages around immigration.”
Sharon’s backstory: “I never really understood why some people would choose to use their time, resources, and energy to bring other people down. Their time would be better spent helping others. This is why I chose the saying ‘Build bridges, not walls.’ I believe that preventing or discouraging others from achieving their goals takes just as much effort as encouraging them and giving them the opportunity to be their best; the difference is that one benefits both parties and the other benefits neither.”
“I chose to use a Computer Aided Design (CAD) program to create my poster because I am not very good at drawing, but I am good at creating 3D models. I also thought that creating a CAD model went well with the ‘building’ theme of the poster’s message.”
Director’s Choice for Poster
Rose, Grade 11, San Diego
This powerful anti-hate image by 11th grader Rose will be made into a poster for participating classes. To create this work, teacher Ray Kinne describes, “Students researched current border issues and created a personal social justice piece.”
Staff Vote Winner for Sticker
Amber, Community College, San Diego
This powerful image, chosen by staff as spring 2019 #USvsHate winner, was made into a sticker sent to all classrooms. Message creator Amber describes the work, produced in the classroom of Christy Ball, as “created based off lessons on body positivity.” Photographer credit to Alexander Krivitskiy.
Staff Vote Winner for Sticker
Jillian, Grade 4, San Marcos, CA
This sticker winner, created by a fourth grader, spread to all #USvsHate classrooms as a crucial call for supporting all community members as part of “US.” Teacher Anya Rosenberg explained that “We are doing a project called ‘Dribble and Rebel’ that looks at American history through the lens of sports. We are focused particularly on how athletes use their positions of power to ‘rebel’ against the status quo and become changemakers for their communities. In the process, students are also becoming changemakers themselves. They decided themselves to create these posters and messages to hang up in our community, and we will be making more!”
Staff Vote Winner for Poem
Nathaniel, Grade 11, Chula Vista, CA
Unity
This provocative and beautiful poem by Nathaniel, an 11th grader, was a winner in our 2019 spring contest.
As teacher Mackenzie King describes, “Our junior team participated in the #USvsHate project as a complement to reading Ronald Takaki’s book, A Different Mirror: A Multicultural America. Nathaniel says, ”The piece itself is meant to represent individuals who feel that they are not fully accepted by either American culture or Latino culture. I wanted to express this by sharing my experiences with both cultures and ultimately show that, for me, there is a bond between the two.”
Staff Vote Winner for Essay
Batya, Grade 10, Chula Vista, CA
Silence within our Cries
According to Teacher Kalie Espinoza, “My classes were involved in a six-week unit about using their voice to speak up against the injustices committed against others. We read Night by Elie Wiesel, discussed the ADL’s Pyramid of Hate, and reviewed many resources from the #USvsHate lesson list.”