A simple but impactful video submission on mental health was awarded first place in a nationwide competition, but the group of high school students behind it is remaining anonymous, known only as"The Voices Behind The Walls."
"I had a lot of hatred in my heart and I always felt, like, you know, I wasn't enough," said another student."So, I just tried to ... find that wound and that love somewhere else. And I thought I found it in the streets.", which solicits solutions on domestic issues from high schoolers in select cities. Unlike the 18 other groups they competed against, the students from Travis Hill School didn't have access to technology, which one student said was a"challenge.
The students couldn't make it to their ceremony where they took home first place, but Byron Goodwin, the director of Travis Hill Schools, said he was able to tell them about the impact they had. The students said that entering the challenge did give them an important lesson and show that they could be someone even outside the detention center's walls.