When I applied for the LPSF grant, “For the Record: Amplifying Student Voices Through Yearbook,” my goal was to put better tools into the hands of my yearbook students so they could become the people actually documenting the story of their school.

Creating a yearbook requires much more than putting pictures on pages. Students plan coverage, conduct interviews, photograph events, write captions and stories, design pages, work together, meet deadlines and make decisions about how their classmates will be represented in a permanent record of their school year.

The grant provided approximately $1,496 in equipment and supplies, including camera batteries and chargers, Canon lens adapters, tripods/monopods, professional SD cards, portable LED lighting, a telephoto lens, a camera-cleaning kit and power strips for our workspace. Some of these items may not sound exciting, but they remove real barriers. Students cannot cover an entire event if a battery dies, and multiple photographers cannot work at the same time without enough memory cards, batteries and equipment.

The project began with the 2026–2027 school year. We started with photography instruction so students could learn to safely handle the cameras and understand how camera settings, lighting, movement and framing affect a photograph. As the year progresses, students will move from practicing these skills to independently covering athletics, academics, clubs, fine arts and student life.

My intended outcome was not simply better photographs. The larger goal was student ownership. I want students to identify a story that needs to be covered, select the equipment they need, photograph and interview their subjects, and then use their own work to create the yearbook.

Although we are still early in the project, I can already teach photography through hands-on experience instead of only explaining it. Students can take a photograph, see what worked or didn't work, adjust their settings and try again. Photography becomes a lesson in problem solving, creativity and persistence.

The project also gives us an opportunity to discuss representation. A good yearbook should not feature the same small group of students over and over. Our staff has a responsibility to look beyond their own friends and activities and find the students and stories that might otherwise be missed. That is the heart of “Amplifying Student Voices.”

The impact reaches beyond our classroom because the students' work will eventually be shared with the entire school community. There are not many classroom assignments that families may still have on a bookshelf decades later. Students know their work has a real audience, which adds responsibility and meaning to what they create.

Because the project has just begun, I do not yet have meaningful parent or guardian feedback, and I do not want to claim outcomes we have not had time to observe. I plan to collect feedback and track student growth, event coverage and representation throughout the year.

One lesson already reinforced for me is that equipment alone does not create a successful program. Students need instruction, practice and responsibility. They are learning to check equipment in and out, charge batteries, manage memory cards and properly care for cameras purchased through the generosity of our community.

I am incredibly grateful to LPSF and its donors. A donor may see a tripod, battery, lens or memory card on a purchase list. I see a student learning sports photography, photographing a performance, interviewing someone they have never spoken to before, or realizing that another student's story is worth telling.

The most visible result of this grant will eventually be a yearbook. The most important result will be the students who created it and the skills, confidence and responsibility they gained along the way.

Thank you for giving my students the tools to put their experiences—and the voices of their classmates—on the record.