A student from Blaine was
honored recently as the winner of the Human Rights Day poster contest
in the Grades 9-12 category. The winner, Chandra, was recognized
at a ceremony last month hosted by the Minnesota’s
Commissioner of Human Rights, Velma Korbel. Chandra’s poster, entitled “Humanitarianism,” is
now included in the 2008 human rights calendar, put out each year by the Minnesota
Human rights collaborative.
Chandra is a senior
at Blaine High School and is very excited about having her human
rights poster published in the Human Rights Calendar. Her friend
and art classmate also decided to enter the contest when they heard
about it. To their surprise they both won! “I’ve
never won anything with my art,” said Chandra. “In fact
this is the first time I’ve ever entered an art contest.”
Her mother Melissa was
not as surprised that Chandra won and stated “I
encouraged Chandra to enter the contest and to do more with her art.
I think she’s very good and I am excited and proud for her.”
Her goals in the near
future are to go to the University of Minnesota and get a degree
in psychology as well as art, which she eventually hopes will lead
to becoming an art psychologist. The Human Rights Collaborative
includes Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, League of Minnesota
Human Rights Commissions, Advocating Change Together, University
of Minnesota Human Rights Center, Tolerance Minnesota, and Minnesota
Department of Human Rights.
Participants were challenged
to present in art form what they think the Human Rights Day theme
quote from Marie Curie means in our society today: “You cannot hope to build a better world without improving
the individual. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement,
and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity,
our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most
useful.” ![]()
