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Spreading kindness through photos
By Kalea hall
boardman
You aren’t invisible.
That’s what June Baker, teacher at Boardman Center Middle School, wants her students and the student body, teaching staff and workers at BCMS to know.
Baker and professional photographer, Marti Aiken, caught all aspects of the middle school interaction through the Center Connections photo project on Friday.
“In this kind of scenario, I just enjoy capturing life here,” Aiken said. “I just enjoy capturing the details and seeing people connect.”
Since the 2012-13 school year, BCMS has participated in Rachel’s Challenge, a program geared toward starting a chain reaction of kindness. Knowing that, Baker — a fifth grade language arts teacher — thought of a way to promote “a strong sense of community” through photos.
“What we are trying to do is to bring staff and students together in a way that will make them feel more connected and together,” Baker said.
Baker brought the idea to her cousin and professional photographer Aiken.
After having a dream about expanding her opportunities in photography, Aiken woke up to the text from Baker about the possibility of a photo project at BCMS.
“We were like OK; this is meant to be,” Aiken said.
Photography is how Aiken connects to people. Her motivation is to tell a story.
“I enjoy making people feel special,” Aiken said.
On Friday, Baker and Aiken took to the halls, classrooms, gyms, lunchroom and other nooks and corners of BCMS to capture the moments of the day through mainly candid shots with some posed shots.
Behind the scenes in the lunchroom, Baker made the cafeteria workers chuckle as Aiken hopped atop a counter and snapped away.
“I think [the project] is trying to show that every day life at school is something amazing, and [the project will] try to portray what is unique about Boardman Center,” Baker said. “It’s the people.”
Principal Randy Ebie was very supportive of the project as a way to showcase the philosophy of the school: to spread a chain reaction of kindness.
“It worked perfect,” he said.
Outside of the photo project, the students were also busy posting positive Post-it notes on one another’s lockers. Positive messages also were written on the glass doors and windows: “Kindness is loving people more than you deserve,” read one of the messages.
The goal is to raise some funding to print the pictures and hang them around the school.
“Anyone who believes in the power of connection and education [should support the project],” Baker said.