Artist Statement

Loyola Academy was my first service learning experience I ever did. I was really interested in getting to know the students backgrounds, where they were from, why were they at Loyola and what did they want to take away from the school. My project came to me by looking at the work of Dawoud Bey’s “Class Pictures” and Life magazine.
I was really upset when I heard that the students had no art class, because I feel like art and music play a huge roll in students developing creative skills as well as problem solving. One of the things I did was hand out disposable cameras to the class. I'm also a photography major and I wanted to share my love for photography with the students. I did not want it to be a financial burden on any of the students so I even paid for their pictures to get developed. Some of the issues I ran into were that some of the students did not want to participate in the assignment. I still have not received two of the cameras. Another problem with the project was that the students did not really know when to add the “flash” so a lot of the pictures I got were really dark.
Out of the six cameras that I handed out I only got four back. I feel like the four students that did the assignment took it seriously and had fun with it. I really enjoyed seeing the students pictures of where they live and their families. None of the students felt comfortable with doing voice overs so I had to scratch that from the project.
I not only learned a lot from doing this project but from service learning in general.The hardiest challenge was trying to get the kids involved. Some of the students seemed to want to get involved more then others and when they did it was great and I thank them. I feel that all the students have a creative side to them and if they were given the chance to have music and art added back into their curriculum it would allow them to express themselves in a fun and positive way.

Angie

Celia

I have a son named David, being a teenage mom is really hard, but I want to finish school so I can offer my son a better life.

Beatrice

Mario

I was born in Mexico. I moved to Wisconsin when I was 5. I don't really remember a lot about Mexico but when I grow up I want to move back there.

Loyola

Last day of going to the school ... felt pretty weird

ME

When I was 3 years old me and my parents went to North Carolina to visit some friends. One day I woke up and thought my parents had left with out me so I opened the door and walked out into the hallway. One of the housekeepers found me and took me to the GM. When the man asked me my name I told him my name was Mowgli.