Student’s poster places tops in the Bay State
A poster created by a student from Nashoba Valley Technical High School has received the top prize in a contest sponsored by the Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth.
This year’s theme, “We Stand
Together,” was inspired by Black Lives Matter at School, a national committee of educators organizing for anti-racism and racial justice in education.
Dominic Carbone, a junior from Townsend in Nashoba Tech’s Design & Visual Communications program, took
that theme and turned it into a poster featuring a closed fist, with the words, “We stand together as one. Love. Peace. Unity.”
Carbone’s poster won the top prize in the highschool contest.
He said he started with the fist, then hit a creative block, so he put it aside for a few days.
“I was trying to think what I could add to make it more spicy,” he said. “I ended up putting it down for about a week. I listen to a lot of music — Metallica, Van Halen — and I just came up with the words.”
He found out he won the contest when another student congratulated him.
“I didn’t even know I won,” he said. “I freaked out. I wasn’t expecting such praise for something I created. It was all for fun, but it was great that it impacted people like that.”
Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth said about 215 students submitted posters this year.
Two other Nashoba Tech students — junior Carolyn Dorman of Townsend and sophomore Kathryn Young of Pepperell — received honorable mentions.
“The theme was ‘ We Stand Together,’” Dorman said of her poster, “so I thought about putting together everything that keeps people apart, like race and sexuality.”
This isn’t the first time a student from Nashoba Tech has won the poster contest. In 2015, Tristan Khim of Chelmsford won it, Cheyanne Thistle of Pepperell was tops in 2016, and Littleton resident Breanna Gutheil submitted the winning poster in 2018.
“So many talented young artists across the state put tremendous effort and thought into their submissions, and it was moving to view all of their entries and their sincere messages about equity and anti-racism,” said Margie Daniels, executive director of Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth.
“Thank you to all who participated. Our goal for this project is to offer an opportunity for students to express themselves through art, and students did an exemplary job this year using their voices creatively,” she said.