FOCUSING ON THE FIRST YEAR: EXPOSING OPPORTUNITIES, DEVELOPING IDENTITIES

Exhibition: April 18 - August 16, 2013
Coffman Memorial Union Art Gallery

What is the First-Year Photo Project?

The First-Year Photo Project is an initiative that brings together freshmen students to document their personal transitions to the U of M through photography.

During the 2012-13 school year, we were very excited to offer the First-Year Photo Project to a small group of first-year students. Having only occurred six times before, this first-year initiative provides new freshmen with an opportunity to represent the first year class’ experience through photography.

Throughout the year, the project participants will take images explaining their view of transitional issues facing first-year students at different times.  At the end of spring semester the students participating will create a gallery exhibit hosted in Coffman Memorial Union depicting the transitional experience of the Class of 2016.

For a preview of their photos, select any of the themes on the left.

Background: During the 2004-2005 school year, fourteen first-year students participated in a project called "Picture Your First Year". These students documented their personal transitions to the University through guided photography and journal entries that reflected their own personal identity, their future hopes and dreams, their uncertainties, and what the U of M meant to them.

Over the course of the project, the students collectively took over 500 photographs that told their stories. During the winter break, students put together a final art piece that was a final expression of what their first semester was about. These photographs were exhibited during the spring semester in the Coffman Art Gallery, in collaboration with the Visual Arts Committee of SUA programs.