The MDDC Inclusion Contest is an essay and artwork contest that provides awards to schools, teachers, and high school students who demonstrate an exceptional understanding of the meaning of Full Inclusion in which all people are valued members of the community. The essay and visual arts contests are open to high school juniors and seniors who reside in Maine.
The awards recognize essays that maximize creativity and exemplify the highest level of College and Career Readiness (CCR) Anchor Standards for Language, and artworks that exemplify the standards required by the Maine Learning Results.
Open to: High school Juniors and Seniors residing in Maine.
Click here for a printable flyer for both contests - please post in your schools!
We get it – civil rights for people with developmental disabilities is a BIG topic, and like any new learning subject, it can be intimidating to start out. So, we've pulled together some resources here that you can use as a jumping off point in your research, so you can come to this project with a better understanding.
"Participating in the Inclusion Contest provided me with an unforeseen opportunity to investigate my understanding of an inclusive community. Crafting my design required me to develop my own opinions on what inclusion and community mean, and then express them visually. I enjoyed finding and expressing symbols of inclusion and developing my own ideals for a supportive and inclusive community."
"An insightful experience that I would recommend to any high school student. Through 'The Maine Inclusion Contest' I was able to develop my idea of community and how disabilities should never be thought of as a barrier between individuals. Awareness and acceptance being major takeaways from this contest, I feel new participants will cultivate these same beneficial values and an overall appreciation for the communities that they live in."