Student winners of the Inspirational Messages of Peace contest stands outside of Ebenezer Baptist Church on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (Julien Virgin/WABE)
On a quiet Thursday afternoon inside the sanctuary of the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, Bella Teng, a nine-year-old sporting a large golden bow in her hair, steps up to the podium.
Walking confidently to the pulpit, Teng introduces herself before diving into the beginning lines of “Me,” an original poem written by the young student.
“Fight with me. Pray for me. Live life with me. Spread peace with me. Be peaceful with me …”
As the Church Street Elementary School student speaks, the audience’s reaction is just that — peacefulness, and in the case of her father, Nate Teng, a sense of pride.
“It means the world to me … I’ve never experienced this before,” he said. “Me growing up myself, I didn’t even finish school myself. So I want better for my child, you know, and she’s definitely inspired me as a father.”
“It means everything because it heals my inner child,” added Daisy Jones, the student’s mother. “I let her express herself as much as she wants. I think it’s a big deal.”
From left to right, Daisy Smith, Bella Teng and Nate Teng are photographed outside of Ebenezer Baptist Church on Thursday, May 15, 2025 (Julien Virgin/WABE)
This year, more than 4,000 students in Georgia submitted poems to a contest asking them to reflect on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech, “I Have a Dream.”
Teng was among the 22 kids to receive the Inspirational Message of Peace Award.
To commemorate their victories, she and the other winners recited their original works one by one from the same pulpit in Atlanta where King delivered his sermons decades ago. Each one reflects the principles of non-violence exemplified by the Civil Rights leader.
Guest speakers included Arndrea Waters King, president of the Drum Major Institute, and lawyer Tanya Syed, a previous Message of Peace contest winner.
“They’re just starting that seed, and we’re hoping that it spreads,” said Sylvia Villalobos, co-founder and president of International World Peace Rose Gardens, an organization that promotes peace by creating rose gardens on sacred cultural and historic sites.
Villalobos said that the contest involved 17 Georgia schools this year, and a number of the submissions showed an understanding of peace and goodwill beyond the students’ years.
“Aren’t they amazing?” she says thoughtfully. “They’re such deep thinkers. And they really understand what it takes to be a peaceful world … they understand that they need one another to have peace in this world.”
The winning poems are now engraved on plaques inside the King National Historic Park Rose Garden for all visitors to see. So as the authors who wrote them continue to age, their words will forever be immortalized to help encourage unity and goodwill.
As the young Teng stated in the final verses of her poem — “Spread kindness with me. Light the world with peace, love and kindness with me.”
