People who are different are often the ones who end up making a difference in the world. Case in point: Justin B.

Justin, a junior in high school, was recently awarded a peacemaking prize by the organization Peace First, for his dedicated and persistent efforts to expand tolerance around the world.
Peace First is focused on recognizing those role models who overcome extreme obstacles and make a positive impact in their community.

Since being diagnosed with tourettes syndrome, a neurological disorder distinguished by involuntary movements and sounds called tics, Justin took up public speaking. He gives his speech “Living Loud” to high school and middle school students to educate them about how his diagnosis caused him to stand out among the crowd and allowed him to embrace his differences.
According to Justin’s mom Lisa, Justin has spoken to over 16,000 people in the past two years alone.

“It’s not only what a high school kid could understand, what anyone can understand is that we all have differences, and if you can accept yourself, you should be able to accept other people,” Justin’s dad Ron said.

Three years ago, Justin and his parents started the Tolerance Fair, a program that allows people of all ages to accept each other’s differences, whether it’s your skin color, weight, religion, or sexual orientation.

“He actually met with the mayor of Solon, and gave her his idea, and she loved it,” Ron said.

Justin was nominated for the peacemaking prize by High School hall monitor Marcy. Out of 650 applicants ranging from 48 states, Justin was chosen as one of the ten Peace First Prize Fellows.

Justin won a two-year fellowship program with the Peace First organization, where he’ll be able to spread his lesson of tolerance among a much wider audience. Along with the fellowship, Justin won $50,000, which he says will go toward improving their website honorgooddeeds.com.

“That’s going to help the Tolerance Fair live more than just a one day event,” Lisa said.

Josh, Peace First prize director, explained how Peace First focuses on young people who are leaders, not just in the future, but right now, today.

“We were really looking for young people who were great examples of role models of 3 things: compassion, courage, and cooperative change,” he said over the phone. “Justin and his project embodied so many of those characteristics.”

To Solomon, Justin’s program not only focuses on making a positive change in his community, but also creates social justice.


“Justin’s insight was that the root of what was going wrong was that people didn’t really understand his condition and what it meant,” he said.

It was very inspiring to see how Justin overcame the obstacles he faced, rather than blaming those that made him angry, he noted.

To Justin, there was no need to cower in the face of intolerance, but rather to embrace what made him different and show the world just how loud he can be heard.