Their faces peer from the walls of Mountlake Terrace Hall, inviting passersby to read the text beside them.
These are not portraits of big donors in business suits or famous Edmonds Community College alumni.
They are black-and-white images of everyday students who blend into the bustle of campus life.
They are students from near and far who are looking to better themselves. For some, just scraping up money for tuition is a hardship.
Peter Schmidt, an EdCC counselor and associate dean, is glad the once Spartan, sterile corridor walls have been made interesting. A new exhibition, “Profiles in the Art of Living,” weaves the expressions captured on film by the college’s photography students with the words of students taking a beginning college English course.
“When we read these stories, we are reading about the stories of all of our students here,” Schmidt said. “This diverse group of people speak about facing fear head on, making a decision to go against the odds, working through obstacles and being tenacious, committed and dedicated to one’s goals and direction.”
The gallery features the photos and commentaries of 23 students from Jennifer Inslee’s English 100 class.
They tell the stories of immigrants and foreign exchange students from Bosnia, Laos, Ethiopia and China.
They chronicle the arduous climb of high school dropouts to get into college and moms and dads going back to school to improve their lives.
“These 23 stories are just a sampling of the incredible diversity and collective life experience we have at EdCC,” Inslee said. “For me as a teacher, hearing about their experiences, their challenges, their hopes, their goals, their striving and their successes is profoundly inspiring.”
Matt Moya, who dropped out his sophomore year at Meadowdale High School, took a bumpy journey to college, earning a General Education Development certificate along the way.
He wrote how he tried to attend classes before he was ready and how “it always ended the same way — disaster.”
Moya, 21, described his tough choice of distancing himself from friends to focus on school.
“What it all comes down to now is that nothing I can do will benefit me more in the future than to educate myself — to explore and prepare myself for whatever this world may have to offer,” he wrote.
Moya was on hand Friday when the photo gallery was opened.
His was an expressive photograph with his elbows brought to eye level, hands cupped behind his head and his mouth ajar in an animated smile.
“I think it really captures who he is as a person,” said Raquel Matlin, 19, a University of Washington student who is Moya’s girlfriend.
Moya hopes the exhibit will give others pause.
“Seeing other peoples’ stories might make you reflect on your own life a little bit,” he said.
Down the hall is a picture of Abdullah Polovina, 35, a Bosnian immigrant, a mosque leader, an EdCC student and a father of four.
“As an imam, the spiritual leader, education is very important to me,” he wrote. “I think that the true rich people are not those who have money; the true rich people are those who have education and knowledge.”
At Friday’s initial showing, Polovina said he likes the cross section of photographs hanging from the walls.
“Each picture gives you some kind of message,” he said.
Kim and Lauren Morrow, a mom and daughter from Maltby, took many of the portraits as students in an EdCC photography class.
They, too, like the idea of sharing the images of some of the faces in the crowd that makes up the college’s student body.
“I hope this is something they keep doing,” Kim Morrow said.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or e-mail stevick@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
