SLIDESHOW: Walsh Students Become Photographers with STARS Grant

For weeks, grade 8 students at Walsh Middle School worked with photographer George Rivera, as part of an artist-in-residence program funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council STARS Residency Grant.

Through the lens of a camera, the students learned how pictures tell stories and help to shape feelings, ideas, and opinions about societal events.

Each student participated in a three-intensive workshop days with Rivera during an English Language Arts class, during their “Civil Right” unit.

Afterwards, the entire eighth grade participated in a culminating project of black and white photographs.

A “gallery walk” style event, where three large pieces of art , displaying black-and-white photographs taken by the grade 8 students was on display at Walsh at the end of last month.

Walsh parent Sandra Acevedo and members of the Walsh leadership team - Jodi O’Rourke and Beth Herrmann - as well as the lead teacher Heather Rowlings, over saw the project.

“The event/grant was a huge success,” said O’Rourke. ”The students gained a deeper understanding about the craft of photography and the role it played in ‘telling a story’ during the Great Depression and Civil Rights time period.”

Diane Daley, from the Massachusetts Cultural Council attended the gallery event, along with Framingham Public Schools Director of Educational Operations Sonia Diaz.

“All of the feedback was positive,” said O’Rourke.

Out of 280 Massachusetts Cultural Council STARS Residency Grant applications, Walsh Middle was awarded a grant to complete a project called “Capturing the Human Spirit.”

The Massachusetts Cultural STARS (Students and Teachers Working with Artists, Scientists, and Scholars) grants provide schools money to support creative learning residencies of three days or more in the arts, sciences, and humanities.

The Massachusetts Cultural Council awards STARS grants because it believes “arts, sciences, and humanities provide students with much-needed opportunities to uncover hidden talents, discover and express their own ideas, build confidence, explore the natural world, and understand their place in history and the community. For many students, this creative learning inspires them to come to school and stay in school.”

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Framingham photographer Kevin Cummings of Cummings Photography in Framingham photographed the exhibit by Walsh grade 8 students for Framingham Patch.