Hills Prepares Activity for “No Place for Hate”

A+preview+of+one+of+Photo+IIIs+works

Julia Taggart

A preview of one of Photo III’s works

By Alison Har and Nedeen Khashashina

WHHS photography teacher Pam Stomel and Student Assistance Coordinator (SAC)  Donna King are preparing for the No Place for Hate activity on Monday, February 4, 2019 in the commons.

Many students go through emotional obstacles and hide their true feelings which can lead to breakdowns, stress, and self-destruction. Bullying is a common cause of depression and hatred of oneself. However, while this is true, students also experience happy and uplifting emotions that greatly contrast from the sad and negative ones.

The commons will be filled with pictures by the photo II and III students. The photo students are capturing photos of positive and negative mood elements.

“The goal is to have the photos up the whole month of February to show that we’re impacting the whole school about the No Place for Hate activity,” commented guidance counselor Donna King.

The outside wall will have photos that capture happy people for “project happy” and the inside walls of the commons will have photos that capture sad and angry people for “project bully”. The project happy and project bully capture real experiences people have to deal with.

“The objectives of creating Project Happy and Project Bully is to show the two sides of life and put emphasis on the positive more than the negative,” stated Donna King.

“The program’s goal is to show that everyone has different experiences in High school”, responded photo teacher Pam Stomel.

“My sad photos reflect cyberbullying and the way it affects on one’s self-esteem”, says Senior Ekaterina Zelenin.

Along with Zelenin on the Project Bully photos is Junior Luca Verano. “My four photos are showing the aftermath of what bullying can lead to,” he commented.

“For Project Happy, I wanted to give off the feel of someone smiling and just overall giving off positive emotions. For Project Bully, I decided to pick something more conflicting between two people where a girl is yelling at another girl, showing how a lot of girls have to block out negativity from others,” expressed Junior Naila Dasilva.

The No Place for Hate activity is an effective way to reflect the emotional obstacles students undergo in life.