Grade Level: 9-12
Region: 2
Student: Valerie Gapasin
Teacher: Joy Cornish-Bowden
Chapter: Tracy EA
The average teenager tends to lack curiosity in many events and figures in history. I was no exception. Prior to this year, I was unaware of who César Chávez was and the feats he accomplished. When I realized how much his efforts have affected my life, and for other students like me – I was stunned. His success through uniting society under one cause has shaped the path to the beautiful diversity we see in this nation, today.
Like the great Martin Luther King, Jr., César Chávez was able to inspire people of different backgrounds to fight for worker’s rights. The collaboration consisted of individuals, hailing from all classes – from Bobby F. Kennedy to the Mexican field workers and the Filipino brethren, working besides them. The persistent, passionate efforts of all these people, finally led to justice for the labor worker. Mainly through the use of color, I tried to illustrate César Chávez uniting the protestors, volunteers, advocates, and other individuals who cooperated in the cause.
I believe diversity was the source of success for the cause. Uniting these people is why the classrooms in my school are so diverse. It is why my dad can work at his blue-collar job, knowing he has rights. It is why my younger cousin can look at her classmate and like them, regardless of their place in society, or of their skin. It is why I think our nation is so beautiful.