When I was a freshman in high school, I was in my second year of photography when Mr. Pender, the communication arts advisor, asked me to take some photos for yearbook. It was definitely a learning curve, and it challenged me to take stylistic photos that I had never done before. However, he saw something in me that I didn’t and never once stopped believing in me. By sophomore year, I was the photo editor, a role I never saw myself having.
Since then, I have poured so much time and effort into mentoring other staff photographers and creating a new era of photography in the Jabberwokk. As I kept growing in this role, I decided I wanted to take my love for photography outside of the classroom. Because my role in yearbook required a lot of time outside of class, and I had multiple extracurricular activities, I decided I would apply to Senior Ventures to give me dedicated time to allocate to growing this passion.
My Senior Ventures project is called Nadu Photography - Business & Service. During this project, I transformed my passion for photography into a new business for myself and also found a unique way to serve the Rome community by utilizing my love for animals. By combining these passions, I wanted to inspire other students at school to grow their passions and to encourage people to find ways to serve in areas they care about. This way, students learn not to let their age or inexperience limit them.
Starting in the summer, I began offering photo shoots to my family and friends to gain experience and build a presence on social media. Throughout the year, I took photos at baby showers, birthday parties, senior photos, sports and more. Then, I decided to combine my passion for photography with my passion for animal adoption. I started volunteering at Public Animal Welfare Services and taking photos of the animals, which would showcase their personalities, instead of the sad environment where they have to live. According to www.heartspeak.org, “Of the participants that viewed photos prior to adopting, 64% said online photos were extremely important or very important in their decision to adopt a dog.” Using my passion for animals and photography, I was able to make a difference in how the animals were advertised to the public.
Also, in my project, I wanted to find a way to involve the Darlington Community. I just held a showcase that was strictly photography-focused to help other photographers at school showcase their work and shed light on the many talented students Darlington has. Since I have taken photos at countless events over the years, I feel that I’m pretty easily recognized throughout the community, and working with other students, I see their talented work. I wanted the community to see that as well. As I wrap up my time at Darlington, I’m incredibly thankful for Mr. Pender and his classes, which gave me something I’m so passionate about. Although this project and learning photography have had their challenges, I’m thankful for the opportunity to do hard things and the ability to use my skills to serve our community.
Senior Ventures is a year-long academic program built on a framework of leadership, innovation and community engagement. Through a proven self-guided exploratory process, seniors whose proposals are selected for this program work independently to develop a project that’s interdisciplinary in scope and is connective, performance-based, investigative, or entrepreneurial. Click here to learn more.
