I vividly remember my parents, teachers, and overall entourage encouraging me to be creative. Speaking from personal experiences, I’ve always enjoyed writing projects, theater, and crafty experiments because they allowed me to channel my wide imagination, as my mom calls it.

I do find my community, and the Haitian community in general, encourages its youth to be creative, from families to schools. Institutions start to emphasize the importance of creativity in a child’s life, for their development, at a very young age. From plays in elementary school for Independence Day, to making paper flags for Flag Day, to theater scenes in my literature classes, to making and painting turtles out of paper mache for biology. I’ve always found myself working to use my creativity, which I’m so lucky and grateful to have.

I feel this way even now at Quisqueya Christian School, thanks to the art program, among other things. I’ve learned to acknowledge and celebrate my uniqueness and expressing myself in my own way, as well as new methods of approaching problems and new ways of thinking. Creativity, I’ve realized, has always helped me tell my story. I thank my peers for encouraging and supporting me in all my crazy projects.