Third place winners, Arts Unlimited District 214/Daily Herald Community Arts and Writing Contest, 2025

Visual art: “Colorful City” by Melanie Martinez

Poetry: “America’s Daughter” by Alondra Navarro

Judge’s comment: Readers can feel this poem. The reader can begin to understand the precariousness of freedom and the hope envelops us. Emotion runs the gamut in this poem through the twists and turns of happiness and fear. The poem is filled with clever images like “climbing the ladder of fear” and “balancing on the roof of the free.”

When he was fourteen,

a boy with a dream in his heart,

crossed an ocean,

a desert,

a mountain,

a world away from the soil he’d known,

rooting himself in Chicago

on foreign streets,

learning the language

of ambition,

of survival.

!Por que uno se pone las pilas!

He studied the stars,

The American Dream,

climbing the ladder of fear,

balancing on the roof of the free,

echoing sirens on the asphalt roads

for a dream of a comfortable life.

!Peinsa que puedes y podras!

Years passed like seasons,

And I, his eldest daughter of four,

watched him in silence,

holding my breath,

wondering if today

was the day they’d come take

my Papi Chulo.

But then I turned ten,

A gift he could never give

but somehow earned.

The papers arrived,

his name inked in the promise of citizenship.

He was no longer just a dreamer.

!Por que si lo puedes sonar, lo puedes hacer!

Now the world has changed again,

it echoes in the schools with the gunshots of fear,

rising like the smoke from the fires of our

Democracy.

The headlines scream of

walls, bans, and deportations.

To face the rage, the bitter hate,

the voices loud that legislate.

They say we steal jobs and bring in crime,

just some thieves in the night.

So many are handcuffed by fear and fate.

In every brown heart,

quietly waits,

a hopeful dream,

to live,

to love,

to simply be.

We are the veins that

Make America Great.

!Vivimos!

!Luchamos!

!Por que pueden cortar todas las flores,

pero no podran detener la primavera!

-American Daughter

Prose: “The Sun Always Rises” by Claudia Podurgiel

Judge’s comment: The story begins, “We're almost there …” and in the few minutes that remain in this car ride, a boy confessed his fears and a father shares his wisdom. As readers, we are invited to listen, with full attention, to their conversation, a conversation in two languages.

“We’re almost there,” Papá announced, glancing at the rear view mirror and smiling warmly.

Ángel tried to smile back, but sadness and anxiety hit him like a rock again, and his smile disappeared as quickly as an icicle on a warm spring day. He gazed outside the car window, staring at an endless row of bare trees. It was a chilly, melancholy November afternoon. The sun was nowhere in sight, and dozens of thick, gray clouds covered the sky. Every once in a while, a raindrop fell on the car window. It seemed as though the sky was attempting to hide its sadness, but it couldn’t no matter how hard it tried, and so it cried gently in small raindrops.

I know what it’s like, Ángel thought as he looked at the gloomy, cloudy sky. The blue raspberry candy that he had in his mouth felt too sour, despite the fact that it was his favorite flavor, and in his favorite color. His stomach churned in worry even though Papá had cooked for him all his favorite foods for dinner: delicious chicken Alfredo with fresh ensalada de aguacate, and sweet coconut tembleque for dessert.

“¿Cómo estás? It’s your first basketball game at your new school. How do you feel?” Papá asked.

“Mal,” Ángel replied glumly, his eyes glued to the window.

“¿Mal? ¿Por qué?” Papá answered gently, surprise tainting his voice. “Baloncesto is your favorite sport. Back at your old school, you used to be so excited for every game. Is basketball not going well for you here?”

“Nothing is going well for me at this new school,” Ángel responded with irritation. “Back in Chicago, I had so many friends on my basketball team. There was Pawel, Juan, Isaiah, Hisao, Edward … Now I don’t know anybody here. It's the worst when you switch schools in 8th grade ‘cause everybody knows each other, and I’m like this big stranger. Nothing feels right at practice. I keep messing up, and some of the boys laugh at me. It’s so embarrassing. In Chicago, Coach Lee was so nice to me. He always motivated me, and he saw my skills. Now, I feel that my new coach barely knows I even exist. Even math isn’t the same, and it’s my favorite subject. Mrs. Patel was such a good teacher, she helped everyone … and now, my new math teacher also barely knows I exist. Nothing’s right here in the suburbs.”

Papá looked at him from the rear view mirror with empathy. “Ay, lo siento, mi hijo.”

Then silence settled between both of them. Papá seemed to be thinking hard about what to say next, and Ángel suddenly felt the urge to tell Papá about his decision.

“Papá,” he said. “I think I’m going to quit basketball. I don’t wanna do it anymore.”

“Oh, Ángel,” Papá started to say.

“I’m not good enough, Papá. I’m not good,” Ángel interrupted him.

They were approaching an intersection, and the light suddenly turned yellow. Papá pushed on the brakes, and the car slowly rolled to a stop as the light turned red.

Papá turned to look at Ángel with a compassionate, but serious expression. “Ángel, let me ask you a question. ¿Te gusta jugar baloncesto?”

“¡Sí, me gusta mucho el baloncesto! It’s my favorite sport,” Ángel replied.

“¿Y por qué?”

Ángel thought for a moment. “Hmm … I enjoy playing basketball. It just feels so natural to me. Every time I play, whether at home or at school, it’s, you know, a lot of fun. I actually can’t imagine my free time without el baloncesto.”

Papá smiled at him. “You see for yourself that you shouldn’t quit.”

“But it’s hard, Papá. Everyone seems to be better than me.”

The light turned green, and Papá pressed the accelerator pedal. The car began to move forward again, faster and faster.

“Ángel, sometimes in life, you have to go through hard things. Pain is temporary, but quitting lasts forever,” Papá said as he looked at the road.

“¿Qué significa eso? I don’t understand.”

Papá cleared his throat. “Pain, the hard moments in our life, don’t last forever. Right now, you started a new school, and you feel pain because it’s all new. But it’s not going to last forever. The sun always rises after a dark night. And oftentimes, the difficult moments in our lives teach us great lessons. Our greatest strength can be found in our greatest weakness. Take me and your Mamá as an example. We both came here from Puerto Rico. Your Mamá came here during high school, and I came later. Everything was different. We both needed to learn English and work hard. Your Mamá’s dream was to be a lawyer. She knew she needed to study hard, and that’s what she did in high school, in college, in law school. She had many obstacles, and there were unfortunately people who told her that she can’t do it. But she didn’t give up. She knew in her heart that she wanted to be a lawyer. Despite all the hard moments, she pursued her dream, and in the end, it was worth it. Your Mamá is now a lawyer. If she were to quit, she would never have achieved her dream, and she would have regretted it for the rest of her life. And along that difficult, but fulfilling journey, life taught her valuable lessons, which helped her become a better person.”

“It’s because of Mamá’s law career that we moved,” Ángel added with disappointment.

“Sí, but your Mamá knew that it was where her heart was calling her to be. Sometimes, Ángel, we need to do something that’s hard, but we know in our hearts that it’s the right thing to do. The pain we first experience is temporary, but the regret we will feel after we quit will last forever, especially if it’s a big decision. Your hermanos are learning this. Diego is going to medical school, Adrian is in trade school, Luis wants to go to college. They feel in their hearts that it’s what they’re called to do, and it will be hard, but in the end, it will be worth it, and they will learn a lot on their way. Same goes for me when I wanted to become an electrician. Sometimes I wanted to quit because I felt I wasn’t as good as others. But I knew I shouldn’t compare myself to others, and I should try my best and learn from every challenge. And I did, and I am now an electrician and a better person because I allowed these challenges to teach me.”

Ángel fell silent. As he pondered on Papá’s words, he realized that a tiny ray of sunshine was peeking out from one of the clouds, illuminating the world below. It was as though the sky was smiling with hope, and he, too, felt a small ray of sunlight cast away some of the shadows of sadness and anxiety in his heart.

Papá took a right turn, and the familiar parking lot of his middle school appeared in sight. Their car rolled to a stop in between a silver Hyundai and a red Chevrolet. Papá shifted the car into park, and Ángel unbuckled his seat belt and grabbed his black and cyan sports bag.

“¿Estás listo?” Papá asked with a smile after they climbed out of the car.

“Sí,” Ángel replied, smiling back as he leaned over to embrace Papá. “Muchas gracias, Papá.”

“De nada, mi hijo,” Papá answered, hugging Ángel close to him. “Remember that I will be cheering you on, and Mamá and your hermanos will also be there later.”

They then started to walk towards the main entrance. A navy blue banner that said Welcome in bold white letters hung above the double doors, and Ángel looked as boys from his team also headed towards the main entrance with their mothers, fathers, siblings, or grandparents by their side.

“Papá,” Ángel said. “I feel kinda nervous, but I’ll try my best. I’m not gonna give up.”

Papá’s face lit up with a smile. “Muy bien, mi hijo. That’s the way to go through life.”

Prose honorable mention: “9/11 Never Forget Museum Arrives At Hersey” by Morgan Daly

Judge’s comment: This is a story about the 9/11 Museum exhibit at John Hersey High School, the story of those who put “Service Over Self”; we need to be reminded.

On September 11th, the United States changed forever as the Twin Towers collapsed after an attack from Al-Qaeda. Unfortunately, 2,753 were killed in New York, 184 died at the Pentagon, and 40 people were lost on Flight 93 in Stoystown, Pennsylvania. While many have visited the site in New York to pay their respects to the fallen, one organization has brought the history of the event to events all across the United States. This past week, John Hersey High School hosted the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and their 9/11 Never Forget Mobile Exhibit.

The museum is a tribute to those who died on that dreadful day. Hersey students had the opportunity to visit the museum during their English class to learn about that fatal day. Students could hear firsthand experiences from former New York firefighters, view materials like steel and firefighter jackets, and hear the radio transmissions of the firefighters during the event.

There are endless stories of 9/11, but everyone remembers the same thing: where they were when the planes crashed.

“I was at my firehouse in Plano, Texas, getting ready to come on shift that morning, and just like everybody else, we watched it on TV. It was hard because you knew there was going to be loss of life,” recalls Billy Puckett, the driver of the 9/11 Never Forget Mobile Exhibit.

2,977 civilians were killed, and thousands more were injured. The aftermath of the day’s events was devastating and still impacts our First Responders. Retired New York firefighter Tom Delgrosso reports that he was recently diagnosed with cancer due to the toxins inhaled from 9/11. It was a devastating day that changed the course of the United States.

Hersey Life Studies Teacher Laura Mosher has a personal tie to the firefighters as her dad and brother both worked for local fire departments at the time. “A lot of my dad’s firemen friends went in to help with the rescue efforts as there were so many fallen firemen … My Dad went to Ground Zero, and my brother went with him.”

Laura Mosher’s family attended many of the wakes and funerals of firefighters who had lost their lives on 9/11. The fire department is a brotherhood; they support each other near and far.

The exhibit and its organization greatly affected Service Over Self leaders Ola Wydmanski and Cienna Morrow. “The most impactful thing we learned was that this organization gives money back to the families of the veterans who have passed away and help support them.” Morrow and Wydmanski encourage the younger generation to honor and remember their history.

The 9/11 Museum stirred up lots of emotion. For Senior Zuzanna Lasota, gratitude and appreciation were dominating emotions. “I’m just more grateful to those who have served our country and to those who lay down their life for us to be safe and give us our rights.” With the help of FDNY and local fire departments, approximately 17,000 people evacuated that fatal morning.

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, have had a powerful influence on the lives of many individuals. Hersey Alum and current Arlington Heights Police Officer, Carrie Regilio, remembers the impact of 9/11 on her life. “After 9/11 happened, our country became very patriotic. A lot of people wanted to serve and help the community, and that helped kind of shift my way into policing. I decided in high school to be a police officer.” Motivated to serve and support the Nation, Regilio bravely stepped in to protect the United States of America.

Billy Puckett and many FDNY veterans said, “Never forget what happened on Sept. 11, 2001.”