Moraine Park students help with “Humans of Oshkosh” book
Our students recently used a collaborative project to help showcase local first responders, as well as share stories of a wide-ranging spectrum of area citizens – young, old, unemployed, business owners, and far more.
This opportunity came through Moraine Park’s “Design Production Planning: Workflow” class. Students in this class worked with a Quest III class from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, with the two groups collaborating to create a “Humans of Oshkosh” book.
Working together
Moraine Park’s students, supervised by instructor Shawn McAfee, did the layout of the book. Meanwhile, the Quest 3 class from UWO did much of the writing and photography.
“The MPTC student graphic designers class who were part of this collaborative project, with Quest III students from UW-Oshkosh, gained real-world experience designing a book for print. This project required communication, teamwork and individual responsibility, while affording students an important opportunity to give recognition to first responders and the amazing work they do in our communities,” McAfee said. McAfee is a UWO alumna.
So what exactly is Humans of Oshkosh?
Well, it’s a spin-off of the popular “Humans of New York” concept. Humans of New York started as a photography project in 2010, taking photos of strangers in New York and accompanying the photographs with small quotes from these individuals or brief summaries of their background. The Humans of New York blog now has over twenty million followers on social media.
First Responders, and much more
Grace Lim, a University Studies Program, Lecturer, at UWO, and founder of Humans of Oshkosh, noted her Spring 2016 “Telling Stories for Fun, Profit and World Peace” course were tasked with finding out what makes the first responders of their community tick. In all, 12 men and women were nominated by Oshkosh Fire Chief Tim Franz, Oshkosh Police Chief Dean Smith and Winnebago County Sheriff John Matz.
Lim’s students then spent time getting to know the first responders and chronicling their stories for a book. The first half of the “Humans of Oshkosh” book is devoted to telling these stories, while the second half of the book highlights other popular stories from the Humans of Oshkosh Facebook page.
There are still limited copies of the books available. Reach out to Humans of Oshkosh Facebook page for more details. The current book is $20; while past books are $10. All proceeds go to the Student Multimedia Projects Fund, UW Oshkosh Foundation, which helps pay for projects like this one.
And if you want to flex your own creative muscle, and have an interest in graphic design, let’s help you make a career of it! Visit morainepark.edu/programs for all the details!
Shawn McAfee’s students were terrific. They took my students’ words and images and designed something beautiful. Our Nov. 10 Humans of Oshkosh Celebration of Community and Stories, featuring the First Responders Storytelling Project drew a standing-room only crowd to the UW Oshkosh ballroom. We received so many positive comments from the first responders, their families and the hundreds of guests. Shawn and her awesome students played an integral role in making this collaborative project a success. Thank you! – Grace Lim, lecturer, UW Oshkosh