SevenDays, an organization dedicated to spreading kindness, hosts an annual art competition for the graphics on their buttons. This year, sophomore Caroline Gordon won one of the buttons with her artwork.

“I knew about the competition because my sister actually entered [in the past],” Gordon said. “She won the same button I won.”

Gordon’s artwork is displayed on the Connect button, and depicts “an Earth made of puzzle pieces and people standing around it.”

Although it took a lot of work, she was inspired to continue as her vision shifted and more ideas emerged.

“It all came together just off the whim,” she said. “I was obviously positive, but I was like, ‘I feel like I can do it.’”

Gordon was motivated by her ideas as well as her sister’s example since she won the competition a few years ago.

“It was inspiring to me to enter because I was like, ‘Oh, if she can do it, maybe I can,’” she said.

Not only did she submit to the contest, she is also involved in the SevenDays team at BV for the first time this year.

“One of my friends is [on SevenDays’] Kindness Youth Leadership Team,” Gordon said. “She told me I should join.”

SevenDays has big plans for this year, including a bulletin board in the hallway showing pictures of people doing kind actions, a school-wide walk and potential walks at the middle schools to spread the message.

Gordon enjoys participating in SevenDays because the cause resonates with her personally.

“First of all, one of the victims of the murder went to our school, so that’s important to our school as a whole,” she said. “But to me, I am Jewish and it happened as a hate crime against Jewish people, so it’s important I take a stand on that and represent our minority.”

Gordon believes her artwork is one way to help support the community and bring people together despite their many differences.

“I did make a lot of designs and I really put a lot of effort in it,” she said. “I wanted to represent [that] people can connect even if there’s an ocean separating [them].”