Five BSM students, along with photo teacher Ms. Kelli Rahn, went St. Mark’s Catholic School to take marketing photos for the school and community. Rahn has taken photos for Saint Mark’s before, and because she teaches photography, the school reached out to her for students to take the photos.

Former BSM teacher and present principal of Saint Mark’s Zach Zeckser asked Ms. Kelli Rahn, senior high yearbook teacher, to take photos for their website. “She asked the five of us to help her with this first project, but hopefully this one will lead to us being able to expand the service to more schools and eventually have more photographers help out,” junior Olivia Pohlen said.

The five students and Rahn walked around to different areas of the school, such as the classrooms, lunchroom, recess, and family time, to take candid pictures. “We would go in the classroom and try and blend in to capture candid photos where the kids are not looking at the camera. [At] Family Time, our preschool classes meet once a week to have time together as a school family. During this time, we focus on a specific virtue we can practice to be the best we can be Saint Mark’s Website,” junior Carolyn Mason said.

This opportunity was used to help the photography students build up their technical skills in a service project. “St. Mark’s is a small Catholic school so I could really feel the spirit and connection between the students and teacher while we were there. Throughout the day I learned how to use my camera better and how to capture kids who are constantly moving in photos and make the photos turn out nicely,” Pohlen said.

For others, the trip was more about getting the feel of a real job. “It felt like a real job that if I was a photographer, this is what I would be doing,” Mason said.