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First Place
Winner
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Elementary
school
Savanana Salitsky
Grade 5, Happy Hollow School, Wayland, MA
The
Looking Lens
Through
the looking lens,
Everything ‘s treated the same.
People, flowers, colored pots,
animals wild or tame.
Through the
looking lens,
on the big yellow bus,
everyone sits together,
no one making a fuss.
Through the
looking lens,
there is no discriminate,
everyone is welcomed,
in every single nation.
Though the
looking lens isn’t real,
it doesn’t mean this can’t be true,
we just need to work together
with help from me and you.
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First Place
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Middle School
Kristin Tissera
Grade 7, William Diamond Middle School,
Lexington, MA
Untitled
Who taught you that no one’s the same?
Who taught you that racism’s lame?
Who taught you to be kind to all?
Who taught you not care about short or tall?
Who taught you that kindness has no price?
Who taught you to think about being nice?
Who taught you that skin comes in different shades?
Who taught you that we are all equally made?
Whether it was Martin Luther Kind or Gandhi
Equality is important, as you can see,
No matter what you look like, or what you like to do,
Just remember what’s important is being you!
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First Place -
High School
Viryioly Valdez
Grade
10, Boston Community Leadership Academy, Brighton, MA
Untitled
We all have to live in this upside down world full of violence and inequality,
I say if I can treat the next person with
respect, then why can’t you?
It’s all apart of a chain reaction.
One smile can easily make a difference
Treat the next stranger you meet as your equal,
Everyone has past, Everyone has a present, Everyone has a future
Yeah, everyone is different in someway
but in the end, we all leave this world in the same way,
in a box
underground.
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Second Place -
Elementary School
Lindsey Gilfeather
Grade 3, Chickering School, Dover MA
White Pawn, Black Knight
All in favor of a fight
Black Bishop, white Rook rattle
Standing upright locked in battle.
White Queen makes a move
Black Bishop gets in his groove.
While taking out a piece at a time
Both sides realize the crime.
Black King trapped and White Queen too
Games almost over, its up to you!
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Second Place -
Middle School
Sajal Akkipeddi
Grade 7, Walsh Middle School, Framingham MA
The Common Denominator
We are not all the same
We’re not all brilliant
We’re not all attractive
We’re not all funny
We’re not all brave
We’re not all the same height or weight
We’re not even all the same color
But we’re all human
So let’s build on that
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Second Place -
High School
Louis Roe
Grade 12, Hingham High, Hingham, MA
Palettes of Sand
The night the forest opened
Its mouth, a revolution
Fell out:
“The trees with their leaves
And their infinite elbows and knees
Do not have the syntax
To articulate a dividing line
Or the concept of clean.”
Who wrapped our skeleton limbs
In separate skins?
Who made my lungs less than meat,
My love merely heat?
Kneeling between trees
We are all born to breathe—
We all breath just to be.
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Third Place -
Elementary chool
Natalia Restepo
Grade 5, Linden School, Mauldin, MA
Untitled
Do we always have to be
misunderstanding about everybody
else’s race, ethnicity, gender,
age, or physical abilities?
Can’t we live in a place
where we all have rights and
everything is in balance?
I am hoping for a possibility
that there is a World out there
where we all have rights and
no one will discriminate
us by our appearance.
We should all appreciate
what we have, and dig a little deeper.
We can’t judge a person by
what they look on the outside,
what’s on the inside is what is important.
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Third Place -
Middle School
Gilad
Waldman
Grade 7, Walsh Middle School, Framingham
Equality's Kitchen
We are all utensils
in equality’s kitchen
Whether a plate,
knife, fork, or spoon
We all get a chance to laid on the tablecloth
If you are on the
bottom of the pile
You will soon be on the top
If you are dirty
You will be cleaned
Each person no
matter who they are
Deserves a place at the table
Without each other
the meal is incomplete
Each person has a purpose, a design, a reason to be
So let us feast together at equality’s table.
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Third Place -
High School
Amy Zhang
Grade 11, Lexington High School, Lexington, MA
Who are you?
Whispered rumors
between friends
Traded at the lunch table.
Endless streams of words
Flowing through the halls
Badly scrawn graffiti on the bathroom mirror
In thick purple ink.
Who are you?
Strange that others
know what you never knew.
You never knew
How to define yourself.
Oh, but after a few minutes
And you’ve got it all down.
He’s a jock. She’s nerd. You’re a punk.
Comments not so subtle.
Barely disguised taunts.
Think. Think again.
Who are you?
No, you’re not a
word.
You’re more than a name
You listen to heavy metal,
Love your family with a passion,
And you want to be a soldier.
Anything else?
Sure. But don’t think
You can be defined by something
As small as a label.
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