With Words and Art, Students Honor King

Riordan Woods, a third-grader at Baldwin Hills Elementary School, may be small in stature. But his words were grand enough to grip a downtown audience Saturday and snag him a prize in an annual art and essay contest honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Education is like a lump of knowledge waiting to explode. It gives you all the things you need to make decisions like how to control your anger, showing manners, self-respect and courage to face new things,” the youngster declared, reading from his essay.

He was among 21 girls and boys honored in the competition sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles. About 100 parents, teachers and friends attended the ceremony at L.A. Department of Water and Power headquarters.

The odds were rough, with 2,300 essays and 980 posters submitted, said Genethia Hayes, SCLC’s local executive director. The contest encourages young people to explore King’s philosophy of racial harmony and nonviolence. This year’s theme was “Education: What Is Its Goal?”

Each winner below 12th grade received a medal, a recording of King’s speeches and a $50 savings bond.

Suzanne Saenz, a senior at LaSalle High School in Pasadena, won a $1,500 scholarship for her art, but no prizes were awarded for 12th-graders’ essays because none of the 200 entries met the standards. Saenz’s poster, in pencil and pastels, shows a man’s face, split down the middle; one side displays a closed mind and eye while the other side has an open brain and eye. “Education opens your mind and breaks down the color lines,” the artist said.