Walgreens Expression Challenge honors area students
Walgreens Expression Challenge honors area students
By Safiyyah P. Muhammad
Walgreens honored seven Chicago area students for their talents in creative writing, visual arts, and multimedia. According to Vanessa Abron, Walgreens Expression Challenge spokesperson, this gave them the opportunity to offer their opinions of what today’s teens face. The 2016 Walgreens Expressions Challenge was recently held at the
Museum of Contemporary Art.
“The Walgreens Expressions Challenge is a peer-to-peer program where teens residing in the Chicagoland and St. Louis area can enter in a contest where they can express their talents.
The three categories are creative writing, multimedia, and the visual arts,” Abron
said.
According to a Walgreen’s press release, at the conclusion of the event, the first place winners received $2,000 and the second place honorees took home $1,250. The recipients noted that they would use their prize money to help pay for college tuition and expenses to the prom.
The competition is open to all Chicago-area students regardless of whether students attend public or private schools and if they live in the two target markets which are Chicago and St. Louis.
Jessica Foster, who wrote a poem called “I Can Fly,” is a student at Percy L. Julian High School and one of the Walgreens Expression honorees. She said she entered the competition to help bring her personal struggles to the forefront. “I know that issues like suicide and depression are swept under the rug a lot. So this challenge was a perfect
way to bring my issue to light. This opportunity helps students to release all of their bottled up feelings. Keeping our emotions inside is beyond dangerous, so this challenge can and will help many students to open up to others that very well understand whatever it is they feel.”
Patricia Frazier, a student who attends Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep won in the Media Arts category. She said, “A challenge like this is important for students like me because Chicago is overflowing with youth talent, however, there aren’t many opportunities for us to get noticed for that talent, let alone be awarded in some way. I have suered from low self-esteem, and I have insecurities as does everyone else, one of
them being that I am not a good enough artist to make anything that anyone would want to watch. However, I took a chance in this competition by entering my film and to my surprise, people loved it. It just shows me that a little selfconfidence can go a long way.”
Abrons pointed out that the keynote speaker for the event was Andrew Daniels aka “Add 2”, a local rapper and songwriter. “Add 2 is an emcee, but he has also established a
program called the Haven. The Haven is an after school mentorship program that has a music studio inside of a local church. The Haven is a place where teens can write and enhance their talents. It is a place where they can feel safe overall.”
Abrons also stated that the Walgreens Expressions Challenge helps students to see the greatness within themselves. “The program allows them to share issues and events that have happened in their lives. Students can use this program as a platform to share
what’s going on in their world.”
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