Humans of Emma Willard School

“Emma made me who I am because of the community that I was surrounded by. From the supportive teachers to my friends, I was able to be who I truly am, grow as a person, and just become so much more confident, which I can carry through my everyday life now. Even at college, I can’t stop talking about it because it’s just the small things like sitting in the 2E with your friends, hearing One Direction play when you walk into the student center, and the daily Starbucks runs that could not fit in a grablock, yet you make it fit in a grablock. I can confidently say that when I was here, I had the best time of my entire life.”

My name is Julia and I am a Senior at Emma Willard. I have always been intrigued by humans and how every single individual has their own “story” so through continuing Nana’s project, I believe this will be an interesting opportunity to engage with my community during my last year. Instead of normal interviews, I want to genuinely try to get to know as many people as possible, hoping to grasp a deeper understanding of them as an individual. Also, there are so many people at Emma who go “unnoticed”, so I want to highlight those people and all that they have done for the community.

My name is Sophia and I am a Junior at Emma Willard. I have always loved taking pictures, so during my Sophomore year, I took digital imaging. This class increased my interest in photography and made me want to continue improving my skills. The same year, I realized that even though the school is not very large, there were still many people that I barely knew and I made it a goal of mine to get to know as many people as possible. When I discovered the Humans of Emma Willard Instagram page, run by Nana ’17, I was amazed by the work she was doing. I hope by continuing her project, I can make connections with new people and get to know the Emma community.

     Open Eye Creative. (2017, May 12). Ask better interview questions: 3 lessons from Humans of New York – Open Eye Creative. Retrieved September 18, 2018, from http://openeyecreative.com/blog/ask-better-interview-questions-3-lessons-from-humans-of-new-york/

     This blog was written by a supporter of Brandon who follows his journey of interviewing through his Youtube channel and other blogs. It gave us advice on the types of questions we should ask people in order to get thoughtful and quality responses that we could post along with their pictures. It said to “ask the questions that elicit emotion.”

     Keats, D. M. (2000). Interviewing: A Practical Guide for Students and Professionals. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.

     This book gave us input on what type of questions to ask, for example, open-ended questions, multiple choice questions, and follow-up questions. Having this knowledge will help us lead our interview and make sure that it is effective. We trust this source because it was written by Emmeline Froede, who completed a Masters program in Health Psychology at the University of Teesside, where she studied Electroconvulsive Therapy, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and Cancer.

     Staff, N. (2015, October 24). In 10,000 Snaps Of The Shutter, A ‘Photographic Census’ Of A City. Retrieved September 18, 2018, from https://www.npr.org/2015/10/24/451184837/in-10-000-snaps-of-the-shutter-a-photographic-census-of-a-city. 

     In this interview with Brandon Stanton, writer of Humans of New York, he talks about the importance of creating a comfortable environment for the people you are interviewing. He says to be genuinely interested in who you are interviewing and show them that you want to know what they have to say.  

September-Questions prepared, list of potential people to interview.
October-Start w/ 1 interview a week and post them on Instagram, Facebook, and in the portfolio. At least 4 interviews done by the end of the month.
November-Continue to interview and upload 5 more.
December-Have 6 interviews to post before and during winter break.
January-Keep interviewing to reach our goal of 22 by the end of the month.
February (Fifty percent by February!)-Interview 4 people. Look into final project (picture book).
March-Interview 4 people to post before and during spring break.
April-Interview 6 more people. Choose interviews to put into the book.
May-Do a couple more interviews and prepare for our presentation.