February 11, 2005

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

ESUHSD students reveal talent, passion for the man and his cause

By Bea Baechle
Editor 

“Now is the time to rise…to the sunlit path of racial justice.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

More than 3,500 students from the East Side Union High School District’s 12 schools sought inspiration from this quote delivered in one of Dr. King’s immortal speeches. They then submitted entries to the 15th Annual NCCJ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Student Art, Writing & Multimedia Contest.

Above: Grand prize writing and art winners, Derrick Nguyen and Amanda Phan, stand by Amanda’s winning art entry in the Martin Luther King, Jr contest.

Martin Luther King, Jr. contest award winners from Silver Creek—Tracy Trinh (first-writing) and Elisa Lee (first-art) stand by Elisa’s winning art entry. Not pictured: Tam Tran (second-art), Jennifer Lam (second-writing) and Sharrell Smith (third-writing).

Martin Luther King contest award winners from Evergreen Valley included Derrick Nguyen (first-writing), Jessica Nguyen (first-Art and first-Multimedia), Christine Nguyen (first-Multimedia), Christina Huang (second-art), Kamalpreet Khaira (second-writing), Romar Armamento (third-art) and Melissa Harter (third-writing).

Martin Luther King, Jr. contest award winners from Mount Pleasant High School included Jacqueline De Leon (first-art), Charlene Marie De La Cruz Quilpa (first-writing), Veronica Perez (second-art), Stephanie Rudeen (second-writing), Tim Eddenberger (third-art) and Satinder Kaur (third-writing).

Christine and Jessica Nguyen, who jointly won the grand prize for the multimedia category, pose with their proud parents.

Sponsored by the National Conference for Community & Justice (NCCJ), the contest promotes the teachings and wisdom of Dr. King and encourages students to creatively find meaning in his words and interpret them for their generation through writing, art and multimedia expression.

“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a vision—a vision that we would all understand each other, that we would all treat each other with dignity, respect,” said ESUHSD Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas. “He knew that we may not necessarily agree with each other, but there was something deep down in our hearts that would connect all of us together…deep down in the heart what connects us together is peace.”

Almost 70 winners honored
A distinguished panel of judges chose up to three winners per category per school and then chose grand prize winners in each category. Three Evergreen Valley High School students took grand prizes: Derrick Nguyen for writing and Christine and Jessica Nguyen for their joint multimedia project. Amanda Phan of William C. Overfelt High School won the grand prize for art.

About 70 lucky first, second and third place winners left the awards ceremony and luncheon on Jan. 14 with more than $5,000 in cash prizes for their entries. More than 300 civic and business leaders, educators, students and their parents honored the winners and sponsors at the San Jose Summit Center that day.

“By drawing this piece, I was able to learn more about Martin Luther King and his wise ways,” said Elisa Lee, Silver Creek High School’s first place art winner, at the ceremony. Impressed by the quote, Tracy Trinh, Silver Creek’s first place writing winner added, “I wanted to express how I felt about the quote.”

NBC11 anchors, TJ Holmes and Lisa Kim served as MCs for the event, and the Harlem Globe Trotters made a quick surprise appearance for the crowd.

The winning entries will travel to a variety of local public venues, including the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, Martin Luther King, Jr. Library & Cultural Heritage Center, County of Santa Clara Government Center and San Jose City Hall.

Continuing sponsors of this event include Lockheed Martin Space Systems, NBC11, Viet Mercury, Silicon Valley Biz Ink and Coakley Heagerty.

“Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.”

At the end of a dark and desolate valley,
Where the sun doesn’t shine,
There is brotherhood and opportunity for all,
On top of a cliff that must b1e climbed,
In the dark and desolate valley,
There are two brothers,
Both a part of American society,
One not different from the other,
They had everything they needed to climb the cliff,
With the helping hands of American beliefs,
The Emancipation Proclamation,
Right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,
All they had to do was climb,
But it is impossible to climb alone,
And one brother was afraid of the other,
And found it a hard task to accept the brother,
The brother who was not afraid,
Knew the importance and consequences of inequality,
He tried climbing alone dozens of times,
Because of his perseverance,
His brother knew it was important to climb,
Working together hand in hand,
They learned to trust each other,
Learned that the other was capable,
Learned that they were equal,
Learned that they were brothers,
When they reached the top,
They reached sunlight, equality,
So they ask us, not to let their climb be in vain,
That we view one another with respect,
Treat each other with courtesy,
And know in our hearts that we are all brothers and sisters.

—Derrick Nguyen, First Prize Writing, Evergreen Valley High