Alternate Route

"Alternate Route," by Grant Bergeron, William (Carson) Cook, Chris Hatzis, Elizabeth Kharoba, Elliot Rotenberg, Bailey Stevens, Grace Wester, and Harper Winslow, Episcopal School of Baton Rouge

Created by - Grant Bergeron, William (Carson) Cook, Chris Hatzis, Elizabeth Kharoba, Elliot Rotenberg, Bailey Stevens, Grace Wester, Harper Winslow
Episcopal School of Baton Rouge, Teacher: Charles DeGravelles

When our group went to Angola prison and talked to inmates about their lives, we heard a phrase being repeated: “We wish we could reach out to young people and keep them off the road that led us here.” They talked about bad choices they had made that could have been otherwise. Why not depict “A World Without Prisons” as a GPS map showing an alternate route that avoids prison and leads to a happy, positive, productive life? We discovered that many choices of our own were already made for us, and we’ve taken them for granted. None of us has ever thought about leaving school. All of us have had a good education and many opportunities that not everyone has. Can’t we, as a society, do some “road work” to make good choices easier for people so that they can go to a good school where they can discover their gifts and talents and be inspired to change the world? Can’t we build roads that steer clear of addiction, poverty, unemployment, and crime? We hope so.