Valley Stream South High School 8th grader Sudan Belvanis had her artwork selected by a panel of judges to be featured in the Shanti Fund 2023 Peace Art Calendar. Her poster—titled The Way of Peace is the Way of Truth, based on a quote from Mahatma Gandhi—also earned Sudan a prize of $301.
The Shanti Fund is a Long Island- based nonprofit focused on building ties between newly arrived immigrants from South Asia and those who have been in the country for some time. The theme for this year’s calendar was Peace and Environment.
“My drawing depicts the destruction that we as humans are inflicting on our home, which is one that we should truly love and cherish,” Sudan said of her poster.
This is not the first time Sudan has won an environmental-themed poster contest. Last year, she won first place in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Create a Watershed Super Hero for a drawing of her hero, H2O.
Sudan said her drawing represents a need to cherish the environment.
South 8th grader Sudan Belvanis.