For the past several years, students at Holyoke’s Opportunity Academy have started off the new school year by interviewing and photographing classmates and school staff through a project called “Humans of OA.”
The project helps students foster a sense of belonging, OA Principal Phelipe Johnson explains. “Students get to know each other. They get to know staff. And that sets the tone for the year of OA truly putting relationships first.”
OA’s student projects are styled after the “Humans of New York” storytelling platform created by photographer and writer Brandon Stanton in 2010, which now has more than 30 million followers. At OA, each student selects a person to interview—a classmate they don’t yet know, perhaps, or a childhood friend, a sibling, a staff member, a teacher, or the principal. From there, they develop a portrait of that person through a written narrative and environmental photo.
The project moves quickly from concept to completion, said teacher Nicole McNeil who has helped organize the project at OA from the beginning, in collaboration with OA’s curriculum provider Springpoint Schools. Students start—and complete—their work during the first week of school. That timing helps students gain “an entry point into academics and building community. Really, the whole project is about ‘Who are you as a person?’”
OA senior Derek Santiago chose a childhood friend to interview. He used a photo of his friend’s shoes as the illustration for his profile, since being a “sneakerhead” is a big part of his friend’s identity. “I liked it because we all get to understand each other and learn where we’re coming from,” Derek said in reflecting on his experiences with the assignment.
Classmate Giovanni Gonzalez, also a high school senior, said he too enjoyed the project. “It was actually pretty kind of nice. I liked it. It was very social. You get to know more about the person,” he explained, “and learn about their past life, and what they used to do, and what they’d like to do.”