By Jena Olson
Students in The AjA Project’s PhotoCity program are constantly reflecting on how City Heights affects their lives as the youth of the community. They recently took a field trip around City Heights to photograph what they like and don’t like about their neighborhood and discuss how they would make things better if they were in charge. While the project is ongoing, we wanted to share some highlights coming out of the project thus far, with much more to come.
“In this photo, a tree has no leaves (leaves represent nature in City Heights and the tree represents City Heights). This could affect my life because my surroundings can easily change my mood, so it might be better. If I were in charge, I were to have a lot of plants and trees planted. Also, anyone who interfered with the growth of nature would be punished.” – Melissa, 13
“Even though City Heights is not the best place people want to be, their are still things that are beautiful. You just have to look really hard. The most beautiful pearl is in the most ugliest shell but it’s worth the wait. That is what City Heights means to me, the most beautiful pearl is in the most ugliest shell.” – Mikaela, 14
“I picked this picture because people are spray painting on people’s property, and it makes City Heights look ugly. To change this I would make a group center that people can spray paint.” – Juan Carlos, 13