The Media, Arts, Technology Academy lead teacher Ruth Greene and the Boys & Girls Club have brought a photography club to Venice. PhotoVoice is a photography club that meets every Thursday after school in Room 13 from 3:15-5:15 p.m. The club is instructed by UCLA educators from the Visual and Performing Arts Education Program.

The leading educator is UCLA graduate Kevin Michini along with other of his colleagues.

PhotoVoice is a cool way students can use the art of photography to identify themselves using 35mm film camera. This allows students to engage with the school, family, and their community as a way to express themselves. Not only do students learn lessons about the art of photography but graphic design as well.

Students go through a 13-week lesson, “Who Am I?” and compile a series of images to reflect who they are. Any student can join the club, as the cameras are provided.

Students in the club enjoy PhotoVoice, like Sophia Maldonado, a freshman, who said, “The teacher encourages unity and being comfortable with each other.”

Another student who also likes the club is Allison Ruelas, a freshman.

“They teach us new things and how to see the world through the lens of a camera,” she said.

Michini encourages students to join the club.

“School can be really boring and sometimes you need extra tools and resources to help navigate through things that we’re feeling as we’re growing, getting older, and changing. It helps us express ideas that we can’t write down, practice in math, or that doesn’t make sense when we’re doing equations in science,” he said.