Pair of Students Win for their Mural and Video – Posted 5/12/15
County College of Morris (CCM) has awarded its 14th annual Peace Prize in an effort to advance world peace and human understanding. This year’s winning project was created by two students, Louis Heineman, of Wharton, and Matthew McCloskey, of Flanders.
The project consists of two parts. One is a short video featuring a voiceover by the two students speaking about the importance of peace and how they saw hope through their project. During the video, which can be found at http://tinyurl.com/kmhtjzh, CCM students place their painted hands on a mural, creating a peace sign. The mural, standing at 6 feet by 6 feet, is the second component of the project.
“Having our friends, family and total strangers be part of something that we created to represent peace shows us that there’s always going to be people willing to work together,” Heineman says in the video.
Dr. Matthew Jones, chair of the Department of Communication at CCM, was the project’s faculty mentor. Honorable Mention was awarded to Stefan Lenz, of South Orange, whose mentor was Evelyn Emma, professor of English and Philosophy at CCM.
The 2015 CCM Peace Prize Review Committee received eight projects. The winning project each year receives a $1,000 award, provided by the CCM Foundation, along with a plaque in recognition of the achievement. Heineman and McCloskey will also have their names added to a permanent plaque of Peace Prize winners located in the Student Community Center.
The Peace Prize competition is organized and administered by Professor Peter Maguire of the Department of English and Philosophy. Established in the fall of 2001, it provides students with the opportunity to apply their imagination and creativity to the design and production of a work that both commemorates the events of September 11, 2001 and makes a positive statement about the importance and pursuit of world peace.
Photo: This mural, created by County College of Morris students Louis Heineman and Matthew McCloskey, was part of the winning project in the 2015 CCM Peace Prize contest.