Kana East, a junior at North High School, presents her photo of a burned-out house that used to be her neighbor’s.
The glowing screen of a cell phone, grocery store shelves filled with processed, packaged sweets, a burned-out house. These are some of the photos Akron Public Schools (APS) students presented during Photovoice: Their Vision, Their Voice.
APS Students from Jennings CLC and North High School shared 22 photos of what healthcare looks like to them in their communities.
The Photovoice Project gives digital cameras to students to express and explore their perspectives on what influences health in their community. It aims to amplify the voices of students who may not traditionally have the power, opportunity, or audience to share their perspectives.
Twenty-two Akron Public School students from Jennings CLC and North High School shared photos of what health care looks like to them in their communities.
Students participated in the Photovoice Project via a grant awarded to Akron Children’s from The Akron Community Foundation. Akron Children’s wanted to get involved in the project to see healthcare through the eyes of children and students in the communities we serve.
“The participants of Jennings Community Learning Center as well as the North High School Viking Scholar Program, captured their perception when answering: What are some of the barriers and benefits the city of Akron has to allowing them to live their healthiest life?,” said Dr. Andrea Sims, pediatrician and health equity coordinator at Akron Children’s. “We want to send a special thanks to the Akron Community Foundation for their generous donation and sponsorship with the grant.”
Kana East, a junior at North High School, displayed her photo of a burned-out house that used to be her neighbor’s.
“It’s just there. It’s not boarded up or broken down. It’s an extreme safety hazard,” Kana said. “When I was taking this picture, I was thinking, ‘What can we do to make Akron safer?’ This house should be broken down and new house should be built. There’s perfect land for some for new people to live there who actually need a home.”
Nunaam Subba, an eighth grader at Jennings CLC, chats with Akron Children’s Dr. Kevin Watson about her photo.
Nunaam Subba, an eighth grader at Jennings CLC took a photo of two kinds of athletic tape: One with a pink package, and one with a gray package.
“They’re different prices. Why? I believe it is because of the pink tax. Pink tax is the thing where items marketed to women are more expensive than items marketed to men. And I took this picture because I wanted to make everybody aware of how this is affecting people’s lives, especially women.”
For Lshang Tamang, a Viking Scholar and senior at North High School, it’s hard to find healthy affordable food choices at her Asian grocery store. Her photo of shelves of packaged, processed, cheap sweets shows what many families experience when trying to make healthy choices: It’s easier and cheaper to buy the unhealthy snacks.
“So many students, including myself, we go there to eat and have no other option. And we are athletes so we need something healthier in our house. I’m looking forward to seeing fresh products like veggies at the store,” she said, adding that she sometimes feels like the sweets at the store affect her and her teammates’ athletic performances.
Dev Bhujel presents his poster to Judy Griggs, medical librarian, and Carol Korman, nursing professional development specialist.
Dev Bhujel, a junior and Viking Scholar at North High School, likes to spend time in nature, but litter and pollution lowers his enjoyment of the scenery. He spoke about this while presenting his photo of trash in the Cuyahoga River.
“This issue isn’t just for me, but for others too. They go outdoors, they will hope to see really nice grass and beautiful skies, but with pollution going on, it takes away from that,” he said. “A solution to this would be implementing more signs into the parks and stationing more park rangers out in the parks to stop people from littering. That way we could take a step in the right direction to bettering our environment in our community.”
We invite you to take a look through the 22 photos and their significance to the photographers.
