One Roof Many Faces
Learn how the students of Stroudsburg High School celebrated the diversity of their school community through their Group Action.
In the fall of 2021, Stroudsburg High School art teacher Ms. Sarah Cepin introduced our DE&I Club to The Inside Project, and its mission: to offer a place to let silenced voices tell their stories. At first, we knew very little about the project, but we were willing and eager to learn more and participate in the global mission of acceptance and equality.
Starting, we watched the TedTalk: One Year of Turning the World Inside Out.
“In the beginning, I was like how in the world is this going to work - we all had our own ideas of how it was going to happen and -- we needed each other to make it work,” stated DE&I Club President Kimani Hanson. Overall, the group was blown away by the idea and eager to get started.
Installation image of students and faculty working together to paste their portraits.
We began brainstorming by shouting out any words that we felt justly represented our school and its community. The club created a list by bouncing ideas back and forth and seeing what stuck. Our main focus was on how the words could be used to create a strong and creative action title. What did we want this project to represent? After a few moments of deliberation, a lightbulb lit up in junior Kimani Hanson’s head: “One Roof, Many Faces,” he exclaimed. The group decided that this was the perfect title to embody our school, and we swiftly moved on to our action statement. and drafted our action statement which summed up our commitment to making diversity and inclusion at our school a priority.
Immediately, everyone felt the power in that statement. We knew right away that it was perfect for the project. That day, we left the DE&I meeting with a catchy new slogan and a general idea of what we wanted One Roof Many Faces to be.
Students taking their portraits in their school hallway.
The next step in our journey was to capture the essence of the community with our most powerful tool: photography. A few of us amateurs began photographing each other to recreate the Inside Out Project’s iconic formula. We then hung the most compelling photos in the halls, as a sneak preview of what was to come. The photos included those of us students who were heavily involved, against a black background and in a black and white filter. There was a mild response to that and a sense of intrigue, so we decided to create a short interview-style video to educate people more about what we were doing. We began by having each student sit on a stool in front of a studio light as they were asked some questions. We were asked things such as “What got you interested in the Inside Out project in the first place?” or “What do you feel will come of this project, and how will it impact our community?” Our answers came in the form of waves of passion and excitement that were only heightened when transferred to film. We played the video during homeroom, where the whole school saw the blossoming seed of our idea. The response was great! Both staff and students were intrigued by the candid camera shots.
Student participant posing next to their portrait.
Once we had SHS hooked, we needed to figure out a way to draw in our school community to collect photos. A Google Classroom was created for all students and staff interested in participating. Through Classroom, we shared the photography release forms, volunteer signs ups, poster hanging tutorials, and other info pertaining to our Action.
The Photography group decided that for an entire week, we would have volunteers sit outside the cafeteria during lunches to collect photos. That Monday, we began setting up iPads and tripods with the classic spotted white and black backdrop outside of the cafeteria. The iPads were set to take selfies on a 10-second delay. Volunteers monitored the participants to make sure the Inside Out guidelines were being followed. Next to the photo station were several displays of other participants of the Inside Out Project, which helped to give an idea of the initiative to the students and staff. Lunch staff, security guards, administrators, teachers, and students of all grades began lining up to get their pictures taken. At the end of the three days of shooting, we had a fantastic collection of photos to use for our Action.
Students unrolling their posters for pasting day.
With all the planning behind the scenes, by the time the posters arrived, we were ready to rock. On April 29th, the big day started to unfold during first period, when we began to mix the wheat paste and unroll the posters. Although we had groups of students ready to participate, as teachers caught wind of the project outside their windows, they began sending out their classes to help out. All hands were on deck! One by one, we pasted each poster to the wall using brushes, squeegees, and eventually, our hands. Between our wheat paste-covered labor, we feasted on free pizza, courtesy of junior Dakota Johnson. Members of the community and our district’s building and grounds crew stepped in to help with their bucket trucks to help reach the high spots. As the project started to progress further, we got messier and messier. Finally, after nine hours, 147 posters were hung.
Students and staff gathered to admire the larger-than-life mural that engulfed our school’s exterior. The posters were so apparent, someone could see them all the way from Main St. Curious civilians pulled into the school parking lot to ask what was going on. The impact was profound. People were talking.
Installation image of pasting process.
The next day, the DE&I club celebrated our efforts with a school-wide “Celebration Day,” which the team had been planning for months. We hosted food trucks, live performers, and outside games, as well as face painting and sidewalk chalk to decorate the school grounds. The festivities were all held right in front of One Roof Many Faces, which was plastered to the school’s front. Joyful laughter filled the air as students, teachers, and community members participated in the celebration, bringing everyone closer together under ‘one roof.’
As days, weeks, months, and even years passed by, the everlasting effect of One Roof Many Faces is still felt throughout the halls and across the community. We know our school isn’t perfect but we will continue to strive to be inclusive of all people.