“What makes me different, makes me, me!” That was the prompt given to fourth graders all across the county for the 4th annual Kids Flaunt Contest. Whether they chose to write an essay, produce a poem or create a piece of artwork was entirely up to them...it just had to represent their originality.
The Kids Flaunt Contest is part of an educational collaboration between Scholastic and the non-profit organization, Don’t Hide It, Flaunt It. Founded by Meg Zucker in 2015, Don’t Hide it, Flaunt It works to advance acceptance, understanding, tolerance, and mutual respect for our visible or invisible differences. The organization encourages children, teens, and adults to flaunt their differences and celebrate what makes us each unique. For this year’s Kids Flaunt Contest, fourth grade teachers across the country shared an ELA and SEL lesson plan and activity with students and invited them to enter the Kids Flaunt contest, which offered them the opportunity to explain their visible or invisible differences and show how they flaunt them.
This year’s Grand Prize winner, 10-year-old Milo Park from Fullerton, California, wrote an essay about his newfound “superpower”: his hands turn red when he touches metal, likely because of an allergic reaction. Milo writes, “I have learned that even if you are different, it doesn’t make you any less of a person than others…I believe we should all be happy for who we are and how we are made. I am glad that I have something to share that makes me, me!”
You can read Milo’s full essay on the Don’t Hide It, Flaunt It website and the entries from other student finalists.
