chronicling area’s COVID history

By SHELBY ISRAEL shelby@appenmedia.com

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Student Leadership Johns Creek showcased the experience of COVID-19 through a community lens in a student-led “Same Storm, Different Boats” exhibit at Northview High School April 19.

Students from four area schools demonstrated their August 2022-March 2023 research through photos, interviews and collaborative projects in the Northview High School food court on Parsons Road.

Guests toured the exhibit, which featured interviews with first responders and community public servants, COVID in the local media and firsthand experiences on color-coordinated poster boards.

Students from Northview High School Katie Bernard, Hasini Bollampalli, Neha Gurram, Riya Havanur, Irene Huang, Rohan Mistry and Yatihya Sahoo were responsible for audio visual evidence of the project.

Johns Creek High School students Olivia Bernard, Maggie Dowd, Reagan Forkey, Yoseop Han, Heather Hutmacher, Grace McGehee and McKeith McIlhinney provided the written evidence in the exhibit.

Secretary of State ambassadors Brady Carnsesale, Neha Gurram, Alisha Kohli, Varsha Nirmal, Tiffany Obasohan, Lakshana Ramanan, Aria Smith, Nicholas Stone and Shruthi Balachander contributed to the project’s oral history evidence.

Obasohan, whose group was responsible for interviews with judicial and public officials, as well as education and government leaders, said working on the exhibit changed her perspective on the pandemic.

“Being an opportunity to meet some people I never thought I would before really showed me what it means to have a pandemic in my community,” Obasohan said. “It truly just takes a little bit of care from everybody to get out of things like this.”

Innovation Academy students Sana Fatima, Rebecca Gottlieb, Nyneishia Janarthanan, Chloe Lee, Aabha Muley, Tanmaya Muvva, Lakshana Ramanan, Aditi Satghare and Ananya Tadepalli also contributed photographic evidence to the exhibit.

Funded by a Humanities Seed Grant from the Mercer University Office of the Provost and a Teaching with Primary Sources Grant from the Library of Congress, the students reflected on their experiences, questions and feelings to craft a diverse retelling of COVID in the community.

“I'm really grateful to have the privilege to be able to do this because we live in a privileged community where some of us had better experiences than places that are more underprivileged or not developed,” Balachander said. “Overall, I'm really grateful and happy for this project.”

The full exhibit can be viewed online at studentleadershipjohnscreek.com/ same-storm-different-boats.