Winners draw on education, experience in Black History Month poster, essay contest

Feb. 18—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Observing discrimination as a child served as inspiration for Ava Mitchell's winning essay in The Tribune-Democrat's Black History Month contest.

The Bishop McCort Catholic High School junior writes about an incident in which a Black teenager was walking down a street and was stopped and searched by police. When nothing was found, she writes, the teen began to ask questions and was then handcuffed. At the time, Mitchell writes, she was terrified, but looking back on that memory, she becomes infuriated.

A panel of judges chose Mitchell's essay as the winner from more than 150 submissions. The essay contest was open to students in grades nine through 12.

"I felt like this contest was a good prompt for Black History Month, and it's something that we don't really talk about much," Mitchell said.

Students were asked to submit essays that answered this question: "What is one step that you believe could be taken to help combat discrimination, and why do you believe that action would be effective?"

"I wanted to make sure people could understand and consider what I was saying before shutting it down completely," Mitchell said. "I wanted to make sure I had a logical standpoint on the situation and that my points were pretty strong, so they'd take my values into consideration."

In her essay, she writes about the ways people can work to eliminate discrimination.

"The steps that I list are all possible within our community and can be accomplished as long as we work together," Mitchell said. "If we come together as a community and hold people who are accountable accountable, then that's a way to stop discrimination.

"Even if the steps aren't big at first, a bunch of small steps will eventually add up to bigger steps and really make a change."

A poster contest was offered for pupils in kindergarten through fourth grade, who were asked to depict a famous Black figure today who is making a difference.

Students in grades five through eight were asked to consider a time when they were the only person with a specific characteristic in a room, and to express that visually.

This year, more than 80 posters were received.

Alexis Fisher spearheaded the contest in honor of her brother, The Tribune-Democrat reporter Ron Fisher, who died in December 2019.

Through the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies, the Ron Fisher African American History Educational Fund was established to create opportunities for local students to learn and experience Black history.

"This year for the older students, we focused more on discrimination and how to overcome it, and what I like about their responses is it didn't always focus on race," Fisher said. "Even though it's Black History Month, that's not what it needed to be all about. They talk about sexual discrimination, sexual orientation and religion, so they really opened their minds up and went very broad."

Fisher said a common theme in the essays was education.

"You can see in all of their writing, they're saying that social and racial awareness begins with education," she said. "If people aren't exposed to it at home and live in a rural town where there isn't a lot of diversity, the only opportunity they have is to learn about it in school. If the schools are missing the mark in that area, then it can hurt people in the future."

Fisher complimented the middle school students who were asked to depict a time where they felt different from everyone else.

"They really opened themselves up," she said. "It was a difficult prompt to talk about and a sensitive topic, but there were some really good posters. They did a really good job showing that they were different and it's OK."

Fisher said elementary schoolers' posters featured famous Black figures who are making a difference.

"We typically see athletes, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, but I like that a couple of the posters featured local people," she said. "It was good to see who stands out to them and who they look at as a role model."

Karrie Williams, a third-grade pupil at Greater Johnstown Elementary School, won first place in the elementary category. Her poster depicted Oscar Cashaw, executive director of Flood City Youth Fitness Academy in downtown Johnstown.

"I'm so excited that I won," Williams said.

She said she attends the after-school program at FCYFA, where she participates in a variety of activities.

"He's really good at helping people," Williams said of Cashaw. "He's a good leader."

Lloyd Brock, a sixth-grader at Greater Johnstown Middle School, was named winner in the middle school contest. His poster was captioned "How it feels like to not fit in" and shows numerous figures facing one direction with one figure facing the opposite direction.

"I didn't know I was going to win, so I'm kind of excited," Brock said.

He said he hopes those who see his poster will understand that people are all equal.

"It's a reminder," Brock said.

To recognize the work by the students, a student art exhibition will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Feb. 25 at Bottle Works, 411 Third Ave. in the Cambria City section of Johnstown.

"These kids have so much talent," said Mercedes Barnette, event coordinator. "I felt it would be a good idea to make this where the community could see all the art work and creativity."

Contest essays and posters will be on display. Contest winners will be announced and presented with plaques. Monetary prizes were mailed to winners.

A community vote will be held during the event for attendees to pick their favorite poster. The winner will be announced at the conclusion of the program.

The event will feature music from DJ Moe of 102 JAMZ and North and South American Alliance (NASAA) from Sheridan, Wyoming, playing the djembe drums. Atayay El Unico also will entertain. On hand will be photographer Jackie Gunby, organizer of My Black is Beautiful, who will be taking photos throughout the event.

"I'm hoping we can bring the community together in a creative way showing what students have to offer," Barnette said. "We want as much community involvement as possible, especially for Black History Month."

Light refreshments will be provided by Greater Johnstown Career & Technology Center.

Admission is $5 for adults and free for children. Proceeds will benefit the Ron Fisher African American History Educational Fund.

Through the contest, Fisher said she hopes students learned that it's OK to be open, to have an opinion and to talk about it.

"They really can make a difference," she said. "Any person can make a change."