Coming Together for Action 2022: Youth Contest
In honor of the Global Alliance’s 100th anniversary, we held contest for high school students in the Baltimore area. Contest submissions consisted of written and fine arts content that addressed the question: What is a socially connected and just community?
The Global Alliance strongly believes that art and culture are central to well-being. They provide purpose, connection, and context for key issues. Celebrating and elevating the creativity of young people provides a pathway to understanding experiences that we all must recognize to achieve healthy and just communities. Check out our winners and selected submissions below.
Youth Art Contest (Winner)
— Elliot
Excerpt from the Youth Written Contest (Winner):
“When we are placed in social environments with others we do not know, we seek to make a good impression and for them to think of us as nice people. However, when we are in a community setting and are comfortable with the ones around us and have made relationships we seek the better of the relationships, the people, and the community. This is the great contrast of socially connected interactions and interaction limited to just certain communities, and it is what guides our thought processes and ultimately our actions towards other people.”
— Declan
Excerpts from the Youth Written Contest:
“A socially connected and just community is a community that interacts with each other often and come together to build a set of rules that everybody can agree on and follow. You are a part of many communities even if you don’t realize it. They play a big part in influencing the way you view things and what you practice.”
— Christian
“Having a strong community no matter what it focuses on, is all about listening to people and their ideas no matter how unique or different they are from what you are thinking. Different perspectives can help develop ideas, which can become stronger based on the amount of feedback given. The stronger the beliefs, rules, and morals of a community are the stronger they will stand out.”
— Mathieu
“To be honest I would be confident in saying we are the most socially connected male team because I have never heard of a boys team as close together as us. And through all of us being connected we are just as just to each other as possible. We all stay respectful to everyone and I will even admit there’s some teammates who aren’t too good but we don’t let that change how we see them. At the end of the day they are still one of us and we still remain just as just to them as we would our best friends.”
— Alex