Student: Psychology
Description: "Inside A Sea Volcano" is inspired by the prevalence of toxic relationships, self-centeredness, and nicotine addiction in young adults' lives today.
Description: Once upon a time, a leaf fell in love with the sun.
Student: History
Description: Handwritten poem which describes my feelings about where I am emotionally at this particular season of my life.
Student: Liberal Arts - Social and Behavioral Sciences
Description: This poem is based on my thoughts, more specifically, the dichotomy of my thoughts. While I try to see the positive aspects of each moment, in all honesty, in the back of my mind, I also have negative thoughts. The split structure of each couplet signifies the polarity of my thoughts. I have a poor sense of time, so I am often late and have difficulty gauging chunks of time. Much of my time is also spent with my family, like helping my parents, grandmother, and siblings with their daily tasks and making sure that everyone is fed. Much like the philosophical concept of yin and yang, for every positive occurrence, a negative circumstance exists. My greatest struggles relate to my foresight and memory. I easily forget things and misjudge situations relating to academia. Since I began school, speed has also been an issue. I have discovered that I take much longer than most to understand and finish my assignments. Slow would be an understatement, and accomplishing larger tasks has always been problematic. I have always taken on many activities: academic, extracurricular, family, social, and this juggling has been more of a struggle after my Grade 2 and 3 concussions. I mention “on whose scale?” because I noticed that when I feel that I have improved, I learn that I still have a long road to go, especially in writing. Thus, I tend to question if I am doing everything right and ask many questions to others, even though I get teased for doing so. I also understand that these thoughts and transitions are a part of adolescence, like rites of passage. I am learning that people try different things to find what is right for them.
Length: 2 pages
Student: Anthropology
Description: My biggest inspiration comes from the longing of wanting to reconnect with my chichimeca (an indigenous nation from north central Mexico) roots, my ancestral land, ancestral song and philosophies. Through the forced colonization of Mexico a lot of languages, tradition and information was lost. The jaguar was very symbolic in a lot of Meso American cultures, so I thought what if I paint my body like Zelda (A female jaguar who lives in a reserve for jaguars and other endangered species down in Mexico)? Would I then be able to reconnect? Description of poem is printed which also includes a live figure drawing of my self with half of my body covered in rosettes done by one of my friends.
Student
Description: Haiku with art from a sticker design made by my 13 year-old niece, Violet Lopez. Inspiration from the frogs distinct life stages to a unique change in my life from dark to light.
Student: Liberal Arts and Sciences - Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Description: Life is as complex as a garden. A rich and varied assortment of wholesome, well-kept plants defines a lovely garden. This correlates with life, with the plants representing people.
Student
Description: Inspiration, handwritten.
Student
Description: Typed. A farewell to addicting things and boys.
Student: History
Description: Handwritten, the idea of comparing a blacksmith to a writer.
Student (and student employee): Psychology
Description: My inspiration would be growing up as a light skinned kid in a dark family, and having to deal with the looks and comments id get from other people about my family before they know were related. It is written online. I don't know what to call the art concept I used, but the bold on certain words is meant to represent my brownness (Mexican, Filipino) or my culture I feel disconnected from, while the italicized words are the whiteness I feel too used to only being seen as, with the bold words being very clear and easy to see and the italicized words having a hard time being seen, meant to be the opposite of how I feel on the inside, that people only really see a white kid when they look at me, even though I'm not just white, I'm brown too, even if I'm disconnected from it, even if I never got to know my dad and learn about my brownness from him before his passing, and even if I could feel his resentment for me not looking like him before he passed.
Student: Korean & Liberal Arts
Description: I became inspired to write this poem after I fell asleep on my sofa after returning home from school. The intended meaning of this poem is to show my appreciation for my sofa and all the other sofas. Sofas are always in the background of everyone’s busy lives. Amidst the hustle and bustle and even when no one is at home, the sofa patiently waits for our return. While the sofa I had in mind writing this poem is not our first, the function is the same. My siblings and I have used this sofa for rest but also to brace our literal and figurative falls. We have laughed, yelled, cried, and held tantrums on the sofa. Besides my bed, our sofa is what makes our home feel like our home. Its plush comfort and sturdy frame provide security and relief. Our house becomes hectic more often than I would like to admit, but the sofa is a fixed component that quells our hyperactivity. I will vividly remember the exact position and angle I was sitting on the sofa when we were told that our dad would no longer be living with us. I would have fainted and fallen if I was standing, but the sofa provided the solace I needed at that moment. Days later, in the same spot, my parents talked to us about love and healing, and it was like the sofa hugged me and let me know things would be okay. Now, every Saturday, my siblings and I sit on that very sofa excitedly waiting for our dad to pick us up for Saturday lunch. As time passes, the sofa will deteriorate, but its presence will leave an imprint in our minds.
