LMSD Students Among Winners of County Juneteenth Arts and Poetry Contest

Several Lower Merion School District students were named winners of Montgomery County's 2026 Art & Poetry of Freedom Contest, part of the county's annual Juneteenth celebration. 

The LMSD students recognized by County Commissioners Jamila Winder, Neil Makhija and Tom DiBello were: 

• K-2 Poetry winner Cora Fusi, a first-grader at Penn Valley Elementary School
• 6-8 Poetry winner Jaliyah Taylor, a seventh-grader at Welsh Valley Elementary School
• 9-12 Poetry winner Ariel Dichamp, a ninth-grader at Harriton High School

At the June 16, 2026, ceremony, which included a reading of the Emancipation Proclamation and musical performances, the winners helped raise a Juneteenth flag on the county building's flagpole.

“As we stand here, just a couple weeks away from the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, we have an opportunity to reflect on the journey to equality—from Independence Day to Juneteenth, to Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement,” said Winder, Chair of the Montgomery County Commissioners. “And while to some it might seem like the distant past, to many of us, it’s within recent memory.” 

“Our country’s history doesn’t change. What does change is who gets to shape the story and what we learn from it,” said Makhija. “Juneteenth is part of a larger effort to preserve and make visible a chapter in our history that was left out and was delayed in its recognition. We all have a civic responsibility to learn and hold up stories from the past.” 

“In a world where division too often dominates headlines and social media, gatherings like this matter,” said DiBello. “They remind us that despite our differences, we share far more in common than what divides us.” 

You can see the county's photos of the event in the slide show below.