Wrapping Up Session One
This week we wrapped up session one of the PAGE Program! Only having one week with such an amazing group of girls that I have gotten so close to, even despite having COVID in the beginning, has been bittersweet.
Originally I had been assigned to work with the Digital Storytelling project when I was not completing Literature Coordinator tasks. However, since that project needed so much training in filmmaking and using technology that I was not comfortable with since I had been sick during the training, the program directors decided that it would be better if I worked with the Visual Diary Project instead. This has been amazing! We started out the second half of the session with some get-to-know-you activities, and mini-lectures about creating a visual diary based on three guiding themes: Self, Community, and Environment. The project was led by John Hopkins professor and documentary filmmaker, Jonna McKone. For 2 hours in the morning, the girls created a page in their diaries that encapsulated an element of one of these themes. For example, on Monday we were visited by a local homesteader and farmer who spoke about her experience being a female farmer in a very male-dominated space. Farmer Lindsey shared what it means to her to be a homesteader and a farmer and also brought some of her homegrown food to share with us! She also talked about the presence of grains and growing those grains, such as wheat and oats. The girls got to not only listen to her and do a mock interview that they had prepared that morning, but we all also got to try the grains that she brought! We learned lots of cool things, like how the kernels of wheat are ready when they crack but not if they bend.
Once the girls were done interviewing Lindsey, we headed back to the classroom to report our findings in our journals and create visuals using polaroid pictures that the girls had taken and samples of the grain that Lindsey had brought. We also engaged in a discussion about heritage and how that can inform our career paths.
Also this week we learned about symbolism in photography and represented that understanding in a journal page about our dreams that we have for the present or the future. This was a discussion where my fellow intern Emily’s background as an English major came to the forefront as we used our knowledge to talk about what symbolism meant to the students. On the day that we had this mini-lecture, the students also went outside and took a practice picture of some things that we had brainstormed might be represented by symbols such as friendship, change, family, and love.
My favorite photograph from this activity came from a girl named Sophia. Sophia is a rising 6th grader who wanted to symbolize the change that she was experiencing as she moved from her elementary school to middle school. For her photo, we walked over to the adjacent elementary school and snapped a double-exposure picture in front of their sign. A double exposure allows there to be two Sophias in the picture, representing the person she was in elementary school and the person that is stepping forward into middle school.
It was a joy to work with the girls on their journal pages as they are all so incredibly creative! They loved the chance to do mock interviews and one girl even noted that she “felt like an important adult” when we were setting up the questions that we would be asking. Talking about ideas like symbolism also showed me that I am gifted in explaining these things to younger children (these girls that I work with are all rising 6th graders) and I cannot wait to work with a similar age group in the future.
There were also several challenges going on during the programming this week! We had a ‘clean plate’ challenge and a reading challenge. The winners got a gift certificate to a local bookshop, which we visited as well. Nearby the middle school where we work, there is a little arts town called Marshall. We had dinner at an old jailhouse that had been converted into a pizza place and was able to see that PAGE students from years ago had helped with the brickmaking and signed their names inside. After dinner, we all visited the bookshop and selected books of our own to read.
In addition to the visual diary project, Ms. Jonna has been teaching us how to make cyanotypes which is a process to make pictures using special ink and sunlight. Students are able to create beautiful patterns using natural elements from trees, herbs, and even little critters such as the moth shown above.
The real star of the show during PAGE this week has been Paul. The interns discovered Paul the moth being eaten by ants after we had stopped at a local cafe for breakfast and coffee. Emily scooped him up and I ran back inside the cafe to get a cup to put him in. He stayed with us until Friday; coming along to the bookstore, to a bonfire where we ate smores and was named Paul by Mina, an intern from Duke University (pictured above). On Friday, we made cyanotype of Paul with the students (who had also grown to love him) and then laid him to rest with a funeral service. He now has a grave in the PAGE garden and many of the students have vowed to return to the project and do after-school programming during the school year so that they can visit Paul.
Next week I will be working with a college and career counselor, Robin Shoor to facilitate a college prep workshop. I am excited to hang out with rising 10th and 11th graders and work on college prep and run some workshops about submitting a college application, where to find scholarships, mindfulness, and networking.
