Youth and Students for Peace (YSP) is proud to present S!NERGY, a competition for students and young adults to present their ideas and projects which promote peace, sustainability and better societies, and focuses to raise and empower young people to make a change in their communities. The very first S!NERGY event was held on December 20 at the Essex County College in Newark, New Jersey, where winners received a grant of up to $500 along with an equal amount toward a non-profit of their choice.

Naria Gaarder, YSP program coordinator, introduced two main criteria for the presentations; each project must keep with the theme of Peace Starts With Me, and must include one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) created by the United Nations to achieve certain benchmarks in different categories, such as environmental, economical and social.

Guest judges included National President of YSP USA Naokimi Ushiroda, Assistant Manager of the Newark People’s Assembly in the Office of the Mayor Lavita E. Johnson, and Director of the Africana Institute, Director of the Center for Global Education and Experiences, and Associate Professor of Sociology of Essex County College Dr. Akil Khalfani. The final scores were 50% based on the judges’ votes and 50% on the audience’s votes.

After a musical performance by Justin Okamoto, the first to present was 31-year-old Raymond Burns, a high school science teacher who wants to revolutionize education. Raymond believes school should be a place for students to find themselves and their passions, and make meaningful relationships.

Throughout his career as a high school teacher, Raymond has been assigned to supervise in-school suspension, which prohibited the kids from talking, interacting, or even facing each other. During his time as the in-school suspension supervisor, Raymond found most of the student came from financially difficult backgrounds and had trouble at home. These kids were thrown into suspension without an alternative approach. Raymond started researching, surveying the kids and interviewing faculty and students to find a way to help the kids who needed it the most. Even the vice principal said that in-school suspension wasn’t effective, since the same students ended up there time and time again.

Raymond is currently trying to create a human connection with these students, to have a conversation with them to understand each other and to ultimately help them.

The judges were impressed with Raymond’s research and his passion for restorative justice to  give the students a sense of belonging and recognition.

Next on stage was 26-year-old Nicole Park who presented the Environmental Messiah Project, a team project implemented in her own church community to reduce the use of single-use items and their environmental impact. The idea for this project came about when Nicole and her team attended a YSP Peace Designer Seminar in December 2018, a seminar that helps develop service projects from scratch.

Nicole’s team took notice of the waste their church community produced every Sunday after they shared a meal together, and felt this was an issue they wanted to address. Thus, the Environmental Messiah Project was founded. The first step to make this project a success was to replace and reduce single-use items with reusable plates and utensils, and to raise funds to help their community do so. The second step was to develop a community-run dishwashing system, and the third step was to promote proper recycling of single-use items.

Shortly after initiating the project, Nicole saw great progress. On Earth Day 2019, Nicole’s community was encouraged to bring plates and utensils from home, producing almost zero waste of single-use items. In addition, the community was willing to continue bringing their own plates and utensils, at least until they raise enough funds to purchase dishes for the church center.

Nicole’s team has further stretched their efforts and ventured outside of their community, picking up trash at a local river and park.

The judges applauded Nicole’s efforts to make her project a reality and to go outside of her own community and how the Environmental Messiah Project greatly represents the Peace Starts With Me theme.

The final presentation was given by 18-year-old Brett Zeligson, a member of the West Orange High School student council, who together proposed building a calm room in his school to help students with depression, anxiety and behavioral disorders.

The West Orange High School student council thought about what Peace Starts With Me means, and agreed that it means peace of mind. The student council longed to bring that peace of mind to the students, and began their efforts by partnering with GrassROOTS Community Foundation to start Green Ribbon Week at his school to promote mental health. Many students said the Green Ribbon Week activities, such as a positive message wall, yoga, and bracelets and pins with positive quotes, were effective and lowered their stress levels.

With these results, Brett and the student council were determined to create a space to de-stress through different stimuli like a calm atmosphere, writing journals, stress balls, Slinkys and music.

The judges admired the balance of mind, body and spirit, and how Brett took the initiative to partner with GrassROOTS Community Foundation.

Wrapping up the event the Peace Starts with Me Dance Group performed a K-pop style dance called “Unconditional” as the votes were counted. The audience ranked their favorite projects online by phone while the judges graded each presenter based on the importance, urgency, feasibility of the project as well as the presentation content, clarity, and energy of the presenter.

Presenters were awarded with a cash grant to help fund their projects, as well as an equal amount toward a non-profit of their choosing. Nicole Park came in third place and was rewarded with a $200 check. Raymond Burns came in second place and received a $300 check. And Brett Zeligson came in first place, awarded with a $500 check.

The program closed with the MC encouraging the audience to think about what peace really means to them and to find even small ways to make a difference in their communities. Announcements invited everyone to upcoming events, such as the Peace Starts With Me Clergy Rally on December 28, and the launch of the Young Clergy Leadership Conference (YCLC), an organization dedicated to raising young leaders for the future, following the rally, as well as a Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial program on January 28 at Essex County College.