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features Panther Prowler • Feb. 12, 2021
Madelyn Janisse fights with her art Allison Nguyen Staff Writer
Dhruv Patel Ad Team
A few months ago, Madelyn Janisse, senior, decided to enter a photography contest run by Unshuttered at the J. Paul Getty museum with the theme “In pursuit of...”. The event was held nationwide, allowing artists from all across America to express their creativity. This contest was an open call art contest and all the winners get to have their pictures displayed in Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Anchorage and Washington D.C. Janisse channeled her passion for freedom of speech through her unbridled creativity in her art and became one of the 30 winners out of 1500 contestants. Exploring the field of photography since she was just 11 years old, Janisse has always found a passion for expressing her creativity in different ways. “I think being creative helped a lot [with the development of the project]. With the pandemic, [going out and] taking pictures is difficult so being able to think outside of the box and use different resources helps,” Janisse said. Having experience in both AP and IB photography, Janisse focused on channeling her inner creativity within her artwork. Eric Lindroth, the NPHS photography teacher, has had Janisse as his student for the past two years.. “In these times, students have had to do a lot of DIY to come up with tasks that they can more easily do in our school lab/studio. Madelyn has done very creative things to replicate these techniques...she is not letting the pandemic stand in her way,” Lindroth said. Janisse always labors to make sure her pictures and art are to tip-top perfection. Haven Roper, senior, is one of Janisse’s friends and recognizes Janisse’s hard work and her love for photography. “It doesn’t matter whether she is taking pictures on a phone or a 1000 dollar camera, she has an eye for beautiful composition,” Roper said. Janisse has always fought for freedom of speech, and was inspired to pick this as her topic because of the world’s current social climate. “I chose to [do it on] the pursuit of freedom of speech because it’s important to me,” Janisse said. “Today, people try to silence anyone who has a different opinion or view. It doesn’t matter whether it’s far left or far right or everything in between, everyone should be able to say what they think and be respected.” Even after practicing photography for the past seven years, Janisse has never lost her devotion to capture moments to help her express her passions, like her “In pursuit of freedom of speech” project. “People are so quick to reject other people’s opinions just because they’re different from their own. I really value being able to say what I think and everyone else has that same freedom as me,” Janisse said. Top left: Glow- Experimenting with different techniques, Janisse and one of her friends decided to take portrait photos. “I really liked how the sun caught her eye. The combination of the unique hair and make-up and the lighting made this image a bit more interesting to look at rather than a plain portrait,” Janisse said. Top Right: Peace- Janisse took her opportunity to showcase the rights of peaceful protests and the First Amendment within her contest application. Making her photo black in white, but changing the letters, she hoped to create a bolder message to people looking at it. Bottom: Youth- Photographing her baby cousin, Janisse used this chance to show her depiction of the youth. “This was just a small moment of calm and seriousness during her usual childish antics. I really liked how she stared right into the lens,” Janisse said. Madelyn Janisse/With Permission
NPHS Students for Social Justice strive towards equality Allison Nguyen Staff Writer
Equality- A group of sophomore friends came together after many acts of injustice inspired them over the summer. “We have so many ambitions and it feels like everything’s going so slow right now, but we know that when COVID is better, we can create a lot of great change that we can bring to the community,” Kulhanek said. Emily Kulhanek/With Permission
Inspired by multiple social movements during quarantine, a group of sophomores came together to start NPHS Students for Social Justice to both educate and promote the importance of activism among the community. Although the club has only been running for the past few months, members have a lot of hope and ideas for future events. Brady Craven, sophomore, founded the club and is the president of this new group. Among the many possible areas of focus, the members took this as a chance to bring attention to the lack of diversity and work towards social issues at the school. “The goal of our club is to promote social justice, which includes racial equality, gender equality, LGBTQ+ equality and environmental justice,” Craven said. As the club grows day by day, more students start finding their way toward the fight for social equity in our community. Ashley Neier, sophomore, is the publicist for the club and has been a big advocate for equality. “I think what really started to push [the idea for starting the club] over the edge was George Floyd and the protests that happened during COVID and I think it really inspired us to be like, ‘We should have something like this at our school,’” Neier said. “Personally, I want to focus on the discrimination of women, focusing on how people might think that people are equal, but in reality,
women of color especially are greatly discriminated against.” Over their past few meetings, they have set many goals that they would like to achieve once clubs are able to meet on campus. “Our main focuses right now are hopefully working with a school board to push for some more inclusive education and like a curriculum, such as more books written by Black and Brown authors for LGBTQ+ education,” Emily Kulhanek, sophomore and vice president, said. The process of creating and building the club has been difficult. “It’s definitely a challenge to advertise and get people involved...we’ve also had a couple of Zoom bombers because people can hide behind a screen with a different name, and they said a lot of inappropriate things on our calls,” Kulhanek said. “It’s been a little messy with that, but just getting the right people to join and participate is one of our goals.” From protests and fundraisers, to organizing and planning future events, the members of Students for Social Justice are excited for what issues their club will be able to help advocate for. “A goal of ours is to help spread awareness for social justice issues in our community through social media. By building that base and creating connections with our school board, we can make changes within our district,” Craven said.
