Individually Designed Specialization

Sample Program of Study, Samara Hoyer-Winfield, May 2005

"As part of my Masters thesis for the Interdisciplinary Studies Program, I wrote a grant proposal to conduct a cross-cultural photography project connecting youth in the US and Ghana. This project idea was based on the my belief that by connecting children internationally to communicate about their culture (through visual, audio, and written mediums) they will further expand their understanding of their local and global community.

After receiving the grant, I started working with students at the Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, teaching basic interviewing and photography skills. Elementary students interviewed local residents and business owners about what community meant to them and created photo books documenting their experiences to teach youth in Ghana about their culture.

During the month of January, I traveled to Northern Ghana to share the work from the US and conduct the same project with Ghanaian students. Despite the striking cultural, social and economic differences between the two groups, the project reflected how similar children are internationally in how they relate to their community and what they found engaging in the field. This experience revealed how effective and powerful cross-cultural education can be when children teach children about their culture. Approaching the project's final stages, the Banneker students will now share with their school and community what they learned about Ghana and Cambridge through the perspective of youth."

For complete additional information and photographs, please visit http://www.photoexchangers.net/