by Andrew Alonzo

Winners of the City of Claremont and Claremont Unified School District’s 35th annual Making Change contest were announced Monday during a ceremony at the Alexander Hughes Community Center.

The annual contest tasks students with highlighting historic or local changemakers in group or individual projects.

Chaparral sixth grader Bailey Wong was among the winners in this year’s Making Change contest. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Individual winners included Condit Elementary School fourth grader Lizzie Hayward, who wrote about CUSD’s Senior Liaison of Youth and Family Services, Rosa Leong; Bailey Wong, a sixth grader at Chaparral Elementary, who examined former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt; El Roble seventh grader Audrey Gariador, who highlighted Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai; Claremont High freshman Joshua Pan, who shared the story of civil rights activist Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; and CHS senior Teo Robar, who wrote about Fiona Lauriol, who took her 100-year-old grandmother on a trip to Spain. Each winner received a $100 check and a certificate of recognition from the city and CUSD.

Group winners included Stephanie Redcher’s second grade class at Chaparral Elementary, who made a collage titled “We have a Dream,” a homage to Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech; and El Roble seventh graders Emmanuel Catarino, Abigail Gonzalez, and Zachary Quilan, who made an art piece dedicated to musician and activist Bob Marley.

“This is a wonderful event because it provides our young people the opportunity to keep the legacy of many of these individuals who’ve made change in our world, keeps their legacy alive, allows them to learn about them, [and] most importantly, to hopefully develop their own skill set so that they will move forward to be the leaders and the makers of change of tomorrow,” said Claremont Mayor Corey Calaycay.

Stephanie Redcher’s Chaparral Elementary second grade class’s collage, “We have a Dream,” an homage to Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, was the kindergarten through second grade category winner of the 35th annual Making Change contest. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

(L-R) Claremont Mayor Corey Calaycay, award-winning Condit fourth grader Lizzie Hayward, and CUSD Board of Education President Kathryn Dunn at Monday’s 35th annual Making Change contest awards ceremony. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo