Wait- lemme take a selfie

Yesterday was the first ever meeting of the WT White photography club. I have a parent volunteer who works as a professional photographer, and he came as a guest speaker to my journalism class last year.  One of the kids in the room stopped him after the presentation and asked about starting a photography club.  Well, it happened yesterday.  The kid who started the ball rolling is the president, the parent is an enthusiastic adviser, and the room was completely full.  Forty kids showed up. 

We were thinking fifteen.  Maybe twenty.  Nope.  Forty.  Holy moly. 

So that's that.  We have plans and goals and ambitions.  We intend to take over the world, one image at a time.  I suggested we find photography-based scholarships and contests.  Alicia suggested we create a publication at the end of the year.  Larry (our excited parent volunteer) wants to have the kids really develop and grow as artists (at least past the point of taking photos of food or countless selfies). 

We will meet every two weeks in my classroom, and remarkably, we have a good set of goals.  There are more than I mentioned, but it's interesting how, when you get forty kids and three adults in the same space with the same motivation, things start moving in the same direction. 

I have actively avoided sponsoring a lot of things in my career.  I said no to the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior class sponsorship, the student council, the cheerleading squad at my last school (how funny would that have been?) and countless spirit groups.  Not just no, but heck no.  This is different, though.  Photography club sounds like something cool.  At the very least, it sounds interesting. 

Here's what my room looks like when packed with forty kids and three adults who are all there voluntarily after school: