Madison Kraniski is a 4th grader at Hunter Elementary School. Her literary work of art received a ribbon in the Granite School District Cesar Chavez Social Justice Art Competition “Building Bridges of Peace.”
When Madison decided she wanted to write for the competition, her mother told her she needed to commit and follow through. She did just that. She read the theme, took a bit of time to brainstorm ideas in her mind, and then set her pencil to paper to create her essay.
When considering the theme of peace, Madison’s thoughts turned to her dad. He was in attendance at the interview with Madison, as was her mom and two younger siblings. In her essay, Madison is very appreciative of her dad’s example as a teacher who builds bridges of peace. He was touched by her written words:
“My thoughts on peace are helping other people, being nice to someone even if they are not nice to you, and play with someone if they don’t have any friends. A person who does some of these things is my dad. Some reasons on why I picked him are he is kind, he is a teacher at Olympus High, he is always kind to his students, he likes other cultures, he speaks English and Spanish, he encourages me and my family, and makes time for me and my family. He also likes meeting new people. Some reasons why my dad taught me this is he wants me to be a good person when I grow up. We can try to be a little better each and every day.”
It was a tender experience to listen to Madison and her dad talk about their admiration for each other. I’m always inspired when I see family connections strengthened because of the time someone took to be creative and express themselves through art. Both Madison’s mom and dad are very proud of her hard work and her empathetic character.
This article was written by Heather Francis, Dance Teaching Artist and Advocacy Director for UDEO (@heatherfrancisdances). Photos by Lisa Gemperline (@lisagempphotography).