Antonio — See Me Because

When I think about my community, I think about my neighborhood, my family, Casa Romero, Mexicans, and my City. I'm 14 years old and I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

I think that people would describe me as caring, there for others. when I see people struggling I kind of want to help them. My portrait shows me traveling to another country and helping others, while also teaching them skills to help each other. It also expresses the kind of person I want to be.

I’m inspired by the Director at my camp, Mr. Kramer. He was a person that was willing to help you without even being asked. He would do things for you and care for you. If somebody got hurt, he would help them and he would teach you how to do it yourself while helping. If you had a question about something, he would take all of the time to explain it, and really listen to you.

I got hurt one time and he helped me and showed me how to fix it. When I messed up, he was like, “It's okay.” He's always positive and open minded, just like a role model. These qualities are very important to me, because that's how I would like people to see me.

Helping others is a goal of mine, because this is how I want other people to treat me. It’s the golden rule. Treat others like how you would like to be treated. So if I wanted help, if I was gonna take a tough situation I would want other people to help me.

If I could change one thing right now, it would be to get rid of COVID, racism, social injustice, pollution, global warming - all that bad stuff that's threatening our survival.

Society sees us young people as the future, because we're the next people up. And I think we'll do a good job of taking care of our future.

When I look at my portrait I see myself, a helper, and I feel like I will make a difference in people's lives.

Milwaukee, 2020