Select Missouri middle and high school students are participating in a state-wide program called Photovoice Missouri, which encourages students to raise awareness about how their communities are supporting healthy eating and opportunities for physical activity by taking photographs of what they see in their everyday lives. Their photographs and corresponding captions will show examples of ways their communities support positive lifestyle behaviors as well as gaps or areas where community improvement is needed. The Missouri counties involved this year representing nine separate groups are: Crawford, Dallas, Dent, Jackson, Ralls, St. Louis City, St. Louis County and Shelby.
“We’re excited to begin our second year of Photovoice Missouri and be able to work with the students and teachers involved with this project,” said Jon Stemmle, co-director of the Health Communication Research Center at the Missouri School of Journalism. “As they are introduced to Photovoice over the next few weeks, the project will be in their hands. The end goal is to help the students set the stage for an open discussion about the health of their community. Based on last year, we know that the students will learn that they have a voice and that their opinions and concerns can lead to real social positive change for their community.”
The concept of Photovoice has been around for nearly 20 years, and is most often used in the field of community development, public health, and education to combine photography with grassroots social action. Participants are asked to represent their community or point of view through photos, videos or slideshows. Each participant develops a brief narrative to go with each of their visual presentations. They also discuss one another’s work and coordinate outreach or other action aimed at promoting tangible change within their community.
Student pictures from last year’s project can be seen on the Photovoice Missouri website (http://www.photovoicemissouri.org/) as well as on Flickr, a photography sharing website (http://www.flickr.com/photos/photovoicemissouri/). This year’s photos will also be available on those two sites as they come in, allowing the residents of each community and the general public to look through the photos and comment on them.
Last year, nearly 100 students from seven communities participated, resulting in over 300 photos with captions. Over 20 students were honored as finalists for their work in Photovoice Missouri.
The second Photovoice Missouri awards program will be held this coming spring on April 19, 2013 in Columbia, Mo. Much like last spring’s award program, the best student work from each community will be recognized as select teachers and students from each of the communities that participate will present their best work in front of the other Photovoice participants and invited guests. A panel of experts will judge students’ photos on how well they illustrate the Photovoice method and Healthy Lifestyle Initiative ideals.
Photovoice Missouri is supported by Missouri’s Healthy Lifestyle Initiative (HLI), assisted by the Health Communications Research Center (HCRC) at the Missouri School of Journalism.