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NewsDepth A+: Moira Burke's Winning Poster

This week’s NewsDepth A+ winner is focused on keeping our home planet healthy.

Westlake High School freshman Moira Burke used her artistic skills to win a statewide poster competition focused on community and conservation.

Moira was actually in the 8th grade at St. Angela Merici School in Fairview park when she drew the poster as part of her art class. the theme of the homework assignment was healthy forests equal healthy communities, and Moira said she “interpreted it her way.”

Her poster has a pair of different colored hands shaking.  Moira said she wanted to show that when it comes to conservation, diversity and inclusion are important. We all have to work together to achieve a goal of a sustainable world.

On the poster, behind the shaking hands,  the Earth’s land is covered with native trees. Moira said before drawing the poster, she researched plant life and made sure it was “geographically correct.”

The poster was submitted to the Cuyahoga Water and Soil Conservation District as part of a competition.  Moira won first place in her grade level and moved on to the state competition hosted by the Ohio Federation of Water and Soil Conservation Districts. She won first place in the 7th through 9th-grade competition there as well, and her poster has now moved onto nationals!

There are two quotes on the poster, including one from teen environmentalist Greta Thunberg that reads: “You say you love your children above all else, yet you are stealing their future right in front of their very eyes.”

When she's older, Moira wants to be an ecologist and conservationist, but she has other passions too — art and volleyball, which she plays year-round. 

This week, we’re proud to give our NewsDepth A+ to Moira Burke, who made an amazing poster with our planet and environment in mind. We know you will go far in the sciences and with whatever you do in the future! Congratulations Moira!

Submit your ideas for our NewsDepth A+ segment to  newsdepth@ideastream.org for consideration.

Jenny Hamel is the host of the “Sound of Ideas.”