After Chelsea High School tragically lost three of their students in less than a year, art students and teachers responded with a project meant to empower students.
The #WhyYouMatter campaign asks students to express their purpose and importance in a photograph.
"To have students think about this, write about this to have really tough discussions in there classrooms," photography teacher Laura Naar said. "Every photo that you see represents a conversation."
Naar and art teacher Georgina Rutherford created this project after losing three students in less than a year. One died in a car accident and two took their own lives.
Rutherford said, "Nobody was really talking about it. It was getting pushed under the rug."
That's when the teachers came up with the idea of photographing all of the 800-plus students and faculty members and have them write why they matter.
Naar said, "This is a crazy idea! Photograph every student, put them up on the wall."
"It's an art response to something that happened to us to kids that were our kids," Rutherford added.
Sophomore Jacqueline Taylor wrote "I matter because I genuinely love people."
She is one of the many students who spearheaded the project.
"Gained a better understanding within in it because we were all putting something so personal on a poster," she said.
Naar explained, "Now I see everyone in the hallway and I see their faces and I'm like, 'you're the one that said your best friend is the reason you are here.' Or 'you're the one that said you want to cure cancer for your mom.'"
They opened the gallery for the community Tuesday night and about 300 people attended.
Naar said, "They saw into what's going on in a teenager's brain right now. Which I don't always think we have time to look at."
They aren't calling this a suicide prevention project, but it has given students who are going through some difficult times a way to better communicate.
"This was really a good way for us to all look out for each other," Naar added. "There is a lot of students receiving services that might not have been receiving them had they not had these difficult conversations."
Taylor said, "I think it's important for every single one of us to step aside and say why am I doing what I'm doing. Why am I getting up in the morning. What drives you."
