The First Thing The Students VOICES Brought....A Photography Club and So Much More

Last week I was upstairs in the foods class talking to the teacher about a project we are going to do with Capstone Publishing starting next week.  

One of the students, Paige, walked over and stood there waiting while Deb and I talked.  Deb asked Paige how she could help her and Paige said, 

"Mrs. Miller, we need a photography club here." 

I was so excited and said, "YES! I would love to get a photography club going here!" 

A few days before that I had sent out a survey to all of the students at Van Meter and around the world collecting their voices on what they wanted and wished we had within schools and education.  

You can read about the survey and this work on the post Students....We Need Your Help and Would Love For Your Voice To Be Heard!

I remembered reading a response about wanting a photography club and just knew that had to be Paige and when I asked she smiled and said, "Yes."  

We picked a date for the next week.  

The morning of our meeting, my associate Diana pointed out that there was something about the Photography Club in the morning announcements.

Then a little bit later, I received a Google Presentation from Paige entitled Photography...By. Photography Club. 

It was so fun seeing her take ownership of something she was passionate about and wanted at our school.  The only time I spoke with her about the club was during those five minutes in foods class. Yet, Paige was already making plans on her own because of her interest and love for the topic.

After school, I went into the secondary library when the second graders left.  Paige was there with her friend Ryann.  I was super happy to see them both.

We talked about the photography club we started a few years ago called Club Click.  We got started at Van Meter with our wonderful friend Diane Cordell as our mentor.  Throughout that year we connected with other schools and students globally.

Last year the club wasn't super active so this was the perfect way to get things started up again.  Paige and Ryann also thought so as they brainstormed creative logos to accompany Club Click.

To start out we all added an app for the 365 Project, become friends on Instagram and Flickr, discussed starting a new blog, and came up with a plan to really kick off Club Click.  

Next week Paige and Ryann will have more to share and will be sharing with all of you to get others involved too.  I am excited to see where the two girls, and the others who join them, take Club Click this year.

And just remember.....this is just one story of what listening to our students can bring to their lives and to ours.

This was a pretty simple thing but just think of the difference it will make to our students.