This story was originally published in the Press-Telegram.
Artwork from more than 50 Long Beach high school students is currently on digital display — via a YouTube video posted by the local chapter of the League of Women Voters.
The students — from Jordan, Millikan, Renaissance and Wilson high schools — submitted their artwork last year as part LWV’s annual art contest. The 2022 theme was “My Vote, My Voice.”
LWV, a nonpartisan nonprofit that encourages informed and active participation in government and public policy, announced the winners in the fall via a YouTube video. But that video, which the Long Beach Unified School District recently publicized via a press release, also showed all of the submissions.
The top-three entries all centered on the importance of women’s rights. The entries and their artists are:
- “Women’s Victory,” by Rosalie Gomez, a junior at Renaissance High.
- “Rights for Women,” Layla Zavalza, a junior at Jordan High.
- “Women’s Power to the Polls,” Olivia Herrera, a senior at Wilson High.
In the YouTube video, Gomez said she was inspired by the neo-expressionism of American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. But it was Herrera who underscored the importance of elections vis-a-vis women’s rights.
“The results of voting determine the lives and rights of women,” Herrera wrote in a statement that appeared in the video. “Securing the right to women’s vote is essential to achieving women’s economic, social and political equality.”
Junior Camilla Uriostefui De La Cruz and sophomore Jacquelyn Rodrigues, both Renaissance High, also earned honorable mentions for their artwork.
Some of the submissions were also used in local businesses and public spaces throughout the city as part of the organization’s “Get Out the Vote” campaign in the month leading up to the Nov. 8 statewide general election.