Grade 6 - 9 Winner Halo Keller
Hey, Black child, you belong
I’m Black and I’m proud, and I will forever say that out loud. I’ll forever love my culture, my melanin skin, and the glow that comes with it. My hair and its tight curls, my lips that sit so pretty on a face that only God himself could create.
I’ll forever love our music, for we are the blueprint, the blueprint of every melody you hear. I love the soul in our voice, and the rhythm in our bones. I love the way we style our clothes, indicating our creativity and artistry. I love the talent that runs through our blood, as we create the unthinkable, because who else can think like us?
I’m Black and I’m proud, and I’ll say this till I die: the foundation of this country, and the foundation of greatness, a foundation that was built on the backs of those who came before me.
I’m Black and I’m proud, and I won’t have it any other way.
Until you speak the words, “You’re pretty for a black girl.”
I know what it’s like to sit in a room at night, with the walls closing in, thinking maybe, thinking the world would love you, maybe if only you could change your beautiful black skin.
I know the sting of heavy words, that hurt like the cut of glass, when people laugh at the thing you can’t change. And I know the silence, the heavy silence, that if you spoke your truth, they would walk away.
But hear me now: You are not broken. You are not the image that painted you to be. You are not too dark, and you are not too light. You are not lost, you are not too much, you are not alone.
These people are not your friends, if they want you to lose that weight, because you won’t belong. These people are not your friends, if they make you feel insecure, and won’t belong because of your beautiful black skin.
If I could go back and read this to myself, I would. If I could go back, it would sound like this:
Hey black child, stop letting these so-called friends get in your head, and make you think that you are not enough. I don’t want to see you cry yourself to sleep every night, because your curls were too tight.
Hey black child, I don’t want to see you cut your beautiful black skin, because “they can’t see you at night.”
Don’t surround yourself around those demons, that make you feel like you have to change yourself. Instead, find the angels. Angels and the people who love you for you. They love your melanin skin, and the glow that comes with it. Your hair, and its tight curls. Your lips, that sit so pretty on a face that only God himself could create.
They love your music, for we are the blueprint, the blueprint of every melody they hear. They love the soul in your voice, and the rhythm in your bones. They love the way we style our clothes, indicating our creativity and artistry. They love the talent that runs through your blood, as we create the unthinkable, because who else can think like us?
They love you for you.
Hey black child, I want to let you know that we’ve found our angels, and things got better. We surrounded ourselves with people who make us feel like we belong in a world full of demons.
Hey black child, I want to let you know that we don’t cry ourselves to sleep every night because our curls were too tight.
Hey black child, I want to let you know that we don’t cut our beautiful black skin because “they can’t see us at night.”
Hey black child, I want to let you know we belong in this world now.
So to all of you demons who make people feel like they don’t belong because of the body that they were born into and can’t change, go find you an angel, and they’ll lead you to the light, because the body you are born into is not something you should want to change, but something you want to grow into.
Grade 10 - 12 winner, Elenie Yange Mbarga
Being different is mostly weird, until it becomes powerful
When we live in an age where everyone looks the same, sounds the same, acts the same, and in all of this, you are a high school student trying to figure out who you are, you lose yourself and who you represent. You don’t “fit in”, or at least, you think you don’t, because you cannot find anyone else like you. And when you move to a new country, that feeling intensifies. You don’t speak the language, nor understand all of the cultural customs, but suddenly you are classified as a “foreigner” because you’re different. And that word separates you from everyone else. Being “the odd one out” because you reside in an environment where everyone needs to mention you are different, or are promoting being copy and pastes of each other, is not welcoming.
This is why diversity, equity and inclusion matters. They help ensure that differences are not treated as social barriers, but as valued parts of a community. Inclusion does not happen automatically : it is created through intentional actions that make people feel seen, welcomed and respected. And stepping out and breaking barriers is accessible to all.
This is something I learned freshman year, when I felt like “the odd one out”.
The first day of ninth grade is one of the most terrifying and nerve wrecking experiences that is experienced by the average teenager, but as someone who experienced an American school for the first time and English was still a language I learned to express myself in, I felt alone. Why did I feel like I wasn’t welcome?
Maybe it was the way I pronounced the R’s when I said “Here” during attendance. Did they notice my French accent ? Or did it sound like everyone else?
Every classroom I walked in was the same - they all recognized each other, they all said “Hii!” with this weird pronunciation of the sound that my tongue used to nasal sounds couldn’t replicate. Where I grew up, H were silent. And both they and I were that day.
I spent the first week wondering when the moment I felt included would come. When will someone invite me to eat with them for lunch? But who would invite the awkward black girl, with round glasses that barely pronounced a word out of fear?
I looked around, waiting for someone like me to come - someone who felt out of place, someone who felt unsure to be new. But no one came.
Until one day someone did.
Right before lunch in my algebra class, a girl I had never spoken to walked up to my desk with a friend.
“Hii!”
For the first time that week, that greeting was directed at me.
She asked if I wanted to sit with her and her friends at lunch. I said yes. It was a simple moment, but it changed everything. She did not know me, and we were not similar in background or appearance, but she chose to include me anyway. That small action made me feel seen and welcomed in a space where I had felt invisible.
Then the second week came. After my first period, I went with another classmate of mine, to attend a session in this club called “Women of Color”.
As I sat down and saw the room fill up with all these different women - black, hispanic, asian, middle eastern, and this is where I felt like I belonged. Because they were others like me - others with parents that were immigrants, others who came from other countries, others who experienced the same thing as me as a person of color.
But what made the moment powerful was not just the diversity, but the intention behind it. The club created a space where students who are often underrepresented could connect, lead, and support one another. And I felt represented, because all of these girls out there were a part of my school community. They were club leaders, athletes, academic tutors, ambassadors, and for someone who thought of themselves as less due to my different background, I understood it could make me stronger.
These experiences made me realize that inclusion happens in different shapes or forms, from eating lunch with a classmate or joining community spaces to find peers just like you.
To ensure that everyone feels welcome all the time, the City of Minnetonka and its residents must take these kinds of intentional actions. Schools and community organizations can create and support spaces where people from different backgrounds feel represented, such as cultural clubs and community groups. They can also encourage everyday acts of inclusion by promoting kindness during the Kindness week, awareness, and outreach, especially toward those who may feel isolated or new.
Additionally, increasing cultural awareness through events, conversations, and education can help people better understand one another. When differences are acknowledged and respected rather than ignored, it becomes easier to build genuine connections.
Diversity brings people together, equity ensures fairness, and inclusion makes belonging possible. Without inclusion, diversity is simply the presence of differences. With it, those differences become strengths that shape a stronger, more connected community.
