AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
As the nation marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, we asked students around the country to send us podcasts about what life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness mean to them. They recorded stories with veterans, government officials and immigrants in pursuit of the American dream. We're going to hear now from four high school - from the four high school winners of our America 250 student podcast challenge. And we should warn listeners that one of these stories mentions suicide. NPR's Lauren Migaki has more.
GRACE KEPKA: This summer, I turned 16, and in November, I have the unique opportunity to vote in my first election.
LAUREN MIGAKI, BYLINE: Grace Kepka and Angelika Garrett's podcast highlights the power of the youth vote.
ANGELIKA GARRETT: Grace lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, one of a dozen cities in the United States that allows residents under 18 to participate in local elections.
MIGAKI: They even interviewed the mayor of Takoma Park, Talisha Searcy.
TALISHA SEARCY: Some of our elections are decided based on, like, fewer than 10 votes, like, 20 votes. The youth vote can actually decide an election.
MIGAKI: Kepka and Garrett, who attend Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, argue that empowering young people to vote creates better citizens.
KEPKA: Today, the question of who is allowed to vote and who faces either direct or indirect barriers to voting is a question of who we allow to participate in our democracy.
MIGAKI: At Carmel High School on California's central coast, Violet Maxinoski was thinking about her mom, who served in Iraq and the Army from 2003 to 2004.
VIOLET MAXINOSKI: She carried a journal with her through cities fractured by bombings, checkpoints, smoke and uncertainty.
MIGAKI: Violet asked her mom, Sandi Maxinoski, to read some of the entries aloud.
SANDI MAXINOSKI: I'm sitting in a little Iraqi cafe, waiting for the waiter to bring me chai.
MIGAKI: This entry describes a conversation Sandi had with another soldier about home. It wasn't about missing the food, the movies, the restaurants.
S MAXINOSKI: It's having the choice to go and do whatever I want. Choice is what makes us free. It's what makes life interesting, keeps things exciting. Choice does not exist in war.
MIGAKI: Violet and her mother reflect on how easy it is to take it all for granted.
V MAXINOSKI: For something repeated so often, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the words can start to lose their shape until you hear them somewhere else, somewhere louder, somewhere closer to danger.
MIGAKI: Across the country at Roslyn High School in New York, Ursula Koestner told the story of a different war.
URSULA KOESTNER: My dad says that the Vietnam War destroyed my grandfather. In the wake of my grandpa's suicide and trying to understand it, I endeavored to find out what my father meant by that.
MIGAKI: Ursula Koestner's grandfather was drafted for the Vietnam War as a young man in 1970. She interviewed her father, Chris Koestner, about him.
CHRIS KOESTNER: He was supposed to go on a flight and there was no room for him. So he caught the next helicopter.
MIGAKI: Her grandfather later found out that the first helicopter was shot down. Everyone on board was killed.
U KOESTNER: The Vietnam War destroyed more than it saved, even decades after its end. My grandfather remains one of its victims despite returning home alive.
MIGAKI: Ursula and her dad describe her grandfather as a distant man with strained relationships. And while her grandfather is no longer alive, Ursula learned it isn't too late to help other Vietnam veterans. She spoke with Fred Sganga, the director of the Long Island State Veterans Home.
FRED SGANGA: We're pushing the general public that every time they see a Vietnam veteran, to use the phrase welcome home because 50 years ago, they were not welcomed home.
MIGAKI: At Mercer Island High School in Washington, Makayla Cheung also reflected on the sacrifices of loved ones. Her father, Raymond Cheung, uprooted his life in Hong Kong to immigrate to the U.S.
MAKAYLA CHEUNG: He was leaving behind the only world he ever knew for a dream he couldn't yet name.
MIGAKI: In America, sports became a lifeline.
RAYMOND CHEUNG: I remember my first year running on the cross-country team in college and not understand what the coach was saying. He speaks so fast. Luckily, running doesn't require much communication.
MIGAKI: Effort, he told Makayla, is a universal language.
M CHEUNG: Cross-country isn't just about speed. It's about pain tolerance and it's about staying uncomfortable for a long period of time before you see the results. My dad realized that if he could survive the hard practices and the long mile runs, that he could survive a business meeting, a career setback and any loneliness he experienced from being an immigrant.
MIGAKI: Makayla says her dad's grit and determination built a foundation for her whole family, a solid starting point for her to pursue her own American dream.
Lauren Migaki, NPR News.
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RASCOE: And if you or someone you know is in crisis or if you're thinking about hurting yourself, you can call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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