Clinton Middle School Final Exhibit
We can always count on Final Exhibits to be full of wonderful moments. They are our opportunity to take some time with the students we serve -- to kick back, ask questions, and open our ears and hearts to feedback. We always have a blast seeing what our students have been working on and hearing them get excited while describing their favorite things about what they’ve learned.
Middle School-aged students can often be hard to draw out, though. No matter how excited they are, it can sometimes be difficult to get them to open up and share their feelings. That’s why our recent trip to Clinton Middle School for their Final Exhibit was one for the books.
The students in our Photography course this past semester at Clinton absolutely blew us away. Their photographs were so focused and interesting, and they were bursting at the seams to explain all the things they were trying to capture in their work.
Holland Roden, a longtime supporter of CMH, took some time to pose for students' photos during a visit to their photography class! Of course, photos of Holland were proudly displayed at the final exhibit.
Clinton students couldn't help but include their instructor, Q, in some of their photos - and he's even rocking a CMH 'Empathy Rocks' shirt!
Our partner at Clinton is Communities In Schools, and boy do we love this organization! The instructors we work with at Clinton care so deeply about helping our students learn and grow on the path to becoming Global Citizens, and it shows. Our Programming Coordinator, Rachael, headed over to Clinton early on the day of the Final Exhibit to help set up the room, and then it was time for the students to show off all they had worked on!
The students took some time to peruse all the photos (this was the first time they had seen their work printed out, so it was very exciting!), and then a few stepped forward to explain their work!
Rafaela (above, in the pink sweatshirt) thrilled us with her excitement in sharing her photos with the group. All of the students in our programming are tasked with using what they learn to express themselves -- they learn about lighting, subject, mood, and other basic tenets of photography, along with lessons about Haiti and photojournalism’s role in bringing Haitians’ stories to the rest of the world. Each semester brings new students who surprise us with how they interpret the material, and Rafaela was a standout! Thinking about emotion and how to use a photo to convey feelings, she created a photo series that used sadness as a theme, but with the hope of showing the beauty in sadness.
This photo of a tree near Clinton’s campus, for example, had Rafaela thinking about the beauty of nature and its ability to persevere through time and adversity: “I thought the tree was beautiful. It looks like it’s been here a long time, and not been taken care of very well, but it’s still beautiful.”
Rafaela poses with some of her photos
Of course, we always love rewarding our students who reach the end of our programming with some snacks and a little time to hang out and reflect!
CMH's Programming Coordinator Rachael takes a moment to smile for the camera
We had such a fantastic time at Clinton and were delighted with how willing the students were to open up to us about their work and the joy they found in learning about Haiti and what it means to be a Global Citizen. It’s truly amazing to watch big changes happen in these students, and it brings us such pride to imagine all of the wonderful things they’ll do in the world as they continue to use what they learn to affect positive change wherever they see people in need.
