High school students share their perspectives on immigration through art, essay and video
Students from Everett, Malden and Medford high schools competed in the annual Teen Perspectives on Immigration contest hosted by The Immigrant Learning Center.
The following was submitted by the Immigrant Learning Center:
Students from Everett, Malden and Medford high schools competed in the annual Teen Perspectives on Immigration contest hosted by The Immigrant Learning Center (The ILC).
Seventy-two students submitted essays, artworks or videos addressing this year’s theme about the cultural impact of immigrants on American society.
Student finalists from first place through honorable mention were awarded cash prizes from $50 to $300 during the awards ceremony at Malden High School on April 16.
The student contestants, their family members and teachers, school committee members, and officials from all three school districts were in attendance.
Community members came out to appreciate their work at a reception that evening at Arts Collaborative Medford, where many wrote notes of encouragement to the students.
At the awards ceremony, Malden Mayor Gary Christenson illustrated the cultural impact of Malden’s immigrant communities on him personally by welcoming the group in Mandarin.
“Students graduate, and they leave the area high schools (Malden High School, Medford High School, etc.) and they come back several years later and they tell me that they believe by living here, it’s just given them such a distinct advantage out in the big world,” he said, of the cultural advantages. “Because for a lot of students [from elsewhere], they’re experiencing what we have for the very first time. … It [our diversity] provides such an advantage, and I think it will for you and for our community.”
First prize essayist Alex Tse from Malden High School read his submission, “The Red Banner That Hung High,” about his experience as a new immigrant to the United States, sharing his cultural traditions with his new community and learning about others’ traditions in return.
His pride in his adopted country is evident when he says, “This openness to cultural exchange is what makes the country unique. It is why you can find sushi restaurants next to taco stands, hear different languages spoken on a single street, and see people from all backgrounds celebrating holidays that are not their own.”
He concluded saying, “I remember how, through something as simple as a holiday, I found my place in a new area, not by abandoning my roots, but by planting them in new soil and watching them grow alongside others.”
The full text of the essay and a video of Tse’s reading are available on The ILC's website.
When Teen Perspectives was first launched, it was strictly an essay contest. While accepting his award, this year’s first place winner in the visual art category, Malden High School student Jason Juan, illustrated the importance of including other forms of expression saying, “My art is, personally, I feel like it’s more about how you feel about it. It’s not about how you use language to describe it. … The emotion is like the part that I feel is most important about it. ‘Cause sometimes you go on social media and you see something about immigrants, especially, like, right now immigrants have a really bad situation in this country, and you may feel like, really have a lot of emotion about it, and that’s why I wanted to express with my art, like what feels a lot.”
First place for video went to Malden High School student Hana Wanas, who explained the three goals she had for her video. First, she wanted to “help people understand how important immigrants are to America, not only economically but also culturally.” Second, she aimed to include as many different voices as possible, and third, she wanted to share her own perspective. She explained,
“Instead of staying quiet, I thought it would be even more powerful to speak up about how I feel about immigration, and I wanted to use my voice to help others.”
Second place video winner was Medford High School student Maya Berrouet. You can see her work on YouTube and the ILC website.
Medford students were also awarded honorable mentions in art: Karollyne Kedman Paniago and Magdelawit Takele.
Madgelawit also won an honorable mention in last year’s contest.
Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn also attended the reception at Arts Collaborative Medford. There was an opportunity to write notes to the students, and she took the opportunity to write notes of encouragement to all the Medford artists.
This program could not be a success without the support of teachers and administrators at all three school districts.
In attendance at the awards ceremony were: Everett School Committee member Robin Babcock, Everett High School Principal Dennis Lynch, Everett Director of English Learners Genevieve McDonough, Everett High School English Department Chair Ryan McGowan, Everett Public Schools K-12 Coordinator of Art Briana Pierce, Malden High School Principal Chris Mastrangelo, Malden Public Schools Director of History and the Arts Gerard Tannetta, Medford Assistant Superintendent for Enrichment and Innovation Dr. Peter Cushing, Medford Interim Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Galusi, Medford High School Teacher Joyce Nicholas, Medford School Committee Member Paul Ruseau and Medford Director of English Learner Education Paul Teixeira.
This year’s judges were:
- Carmel Salhi, Northeastern University Bouve College of Health Sciences
- Jodie Zalk, Malden Reads
- Anna Thai, Anna Thai Embroidery
- Bitho Faustin, artist
- Pam Shanley, Arts Collaborative Medford
- Ed Rocha, Rola Corporation
- Anne D’Urso-Rose, Urban Media Arts
- Seth Bender, videographer
- Michael Sheridan, Community Supported Film
All of this year’s submissions as well as previous winners can be seen on The ILC’s website.
The Immigrant Learning Center, Inc. (The ILC) of Malden, MA, is a not-for-profit organization that gives immigrants a voice in three ways. For more information, visit the website http://www.ilctr.org. The ILC can also be found on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.
