Challenging Stereotypes and Embracing Uniqueness

DDSB students are recognized for their art and essays at the Durham Region Creative Minds Youth Contest Awards Ceremony

This year’s theme for the Creative Minds Youth Contest is Challenging Stereotypes: Embracing Uniqueness in Today’s World. The contest is organized by the Intercultural Dialogue Institute (IDI) and local school boards within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

The Creative Minds Youth Contest is a two-part contest which asks high school students to submit a project addressing the theme of the year using one of three categories: art, essay, or video. The first stage of the contest is regional, and the top three finishers who place in each category have the chance to participate in the Creative Minds Youth Contest GTA, which will be held this Fall.

High school students from the Durham District School Board (DDSB), Durham Catholic District School Board (DCDSB), Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board (KPRDSB), and the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board (PVNCCDSB) attended the awards ceremony for the Durham Region Creative Minds Youth Contest on May 1^st at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa.

This year, there were only submissions in the art and essay categories for the Durham Region contest.

Pickering High School, Uxbridge Secondary School, and O’Neill Collegiate Vocational Institute proudly represented DDSB at the awards ceremony.

Cultural Expressions

“Through my piece I challenge racial and gender stereotypes by showing famous female people of colour with statements about the powerful positions they can be in,” explains Grade 12 Pickering HS student Megan Bernard. Bernard’s piece has four images of women of colour, each with a different statement imposed on the image, “They say, ‘see me as a leader, a teacher, a designer, and an inspirer.’ The message is that creativity includes all different kinds of people.”

Grade 12 Uxbridge SS student Hunter Weitzman wrote an essay about his experience in the Northern Ontario First Nations town of Weagamow. His essay entitled My Friends, the Marginalized Strangers explains how he got involved with the community of Weagamow via Hope Through Hockey. Hope Through Hockey sent Weitzman and other leaders on the Uxbridge SS hockey team to teach the sport to youth in Weagamow. Below is an excerpt from Weitzman’s essay:

“The one memorable moment that stands out above the rest is this: One evening after carrying out our on-ice coaching, an intoxicated and high 16-year-old boy came to the arena and told me that he had just tried to kill himself. I was already speechless when he said that his grandma advised him to come to see us because ‘we give the community hope.’ This stunned me and made me feel like I was naturally supposed to have the answer. I was overwhelmed and unsure about how to react. I took a breath and realized that all he wanted was for me to listen and be a friend. I opened my eyes and my heart and I listened.”

Weitzman adds, “It makes you appreciate what you have. These kids are struggling, but they’re always smiling. It’s really nice to share this experience with people because it’s important for people to know what’s going on here, not just in other countries.”

And the awards go to…

The DDSB winners moving forward in the Creative Minds Youth Contest are:

Congratulations to all DDSB students who participated in this year’s regional contest, and good luck to those students moving forward to the GTA contest taking place this coming Fall.