As a culminating project for their 11th grade year, juniors from Envision Academy participated in an abbreviated session of The American Teenager Project – a portrait photography and oral history program that pushes young people to engage in a world beyond their own and to see each other in a new light. Through this program young people are paired up, asked to take a collaborative portrait of each other, and to interview each other. The goal: For students to connect with each other in significant and unexpected ways, and create the space and opportunity for these young people to be seen and heard.

Julia Hollinger, who teaches Social Sciences at EA, and leads the American Teenager Project in her class, says she finds immense honor in being able to lead her students through this project.

“As a teacher I feel privileged to facilitate and observe this process through which my entire class of young people grows its’ empathy, understanding and connection to the wider community.”