The Arnold & Itkin Foundation Honors Winners of the 11th Annual RESPECT Contest

Each year, the Arnold & Itkin Foundation asks fifth graders across the Houston area to put into words something adults even struggle to define: what does respect actually mean? Students write a short definition in their own words and pair it with a drawing that brings the idea to life. Eleven years in, the RESPECT Contest has grown into one of the Foundation's most anticipated traditions.

This year's winners were celebrated in the courtroom of Judge Christine Weems, where they were recognized in front of family, teachers, and Foundation representatives. Holding the ceremony in a real courtroom gives students a glimpse of the setting where ideas like fairness and respect take on real consequences, and it reinforces the idea that what they wrote mattered enough to be honored there.

Each winning student received a $250 personal prize, and their entries went on to generate additional support for their school and for a charity of their choosing, with contributions ranging from $1,000 to $2,000 depending on placement. Altogether, the Foundation awarded $50,000 this year between student prizes, school contributions, and charitable donations.

Supporting Schools Across Houston

Students from four districts, La Porte, Pasadena, Deer Park, and Galena Park ISDs, were represented among this year's winners. Their schools received contributions, with a matching donation going to the charity each student selected.

Schools recognized this year, along with the causes their winning students chose to support, included:

• Heritage Elementary and Bayshore Elementary (La Porte ISD) – St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
• Fred Roberts Middle School and Milstead Middle School (Pasadena ISD) – Pasadena Animal Shelter
• Bobby Shaw Middle School (Pasadena ISD) – Texas Children's Hospital
• Melillo Middle School (Pasadena ISD) – Pet Cancer Society and Foundation
• Dabbs Elementary (Deer Park ISD) – Make-A-Wish Foundation
• Deer Park Elementary (Deer Park ISD) – Houston Food Bank
• Fairmont Elementary (Deer Park ISD) – Press Up Basketball
• Carpenter Elementary (Deer Park ISD) – Pasadena Animal Shelter
• Rizzuto Elementary (La Porte ISD) – La Porte Animal Shelter
• College Park Elementary (La Porte ISD) – The American Cancer Society
• Purple Sage Elementary (Galena Park ISD) – Friends of Animals
• Sam Houston Elementary (Galena Park ISD) – Houston Children's Charity
• Galena Park Elementary (Galena Park ISD) – Sunshine Kids Foundation

The range of causes students chose says something on its own about how differently respect and compassion can show up in a young person’s life.

Why This Contest Matters

The RESPECT Contest started from a simple idea: if children learn early on that respect means understanding and fairness, not just good manners, that lesson tends to stick. It's the same idea that shapes our work representing people who've been wronged. Every case we take starts with someone who wasn't treated the way they deserved to be, and part of what keeps us in this work is believing that the people responsible should be held to a standard of basic respect for others.

Eleven years into this contest, we're still learning from the students as much as they're learning from us. Their definitions of respect are rarely complicated, but they ring true. They just ask the people around them, including the adults, to live up to them.