About the Project
WE SEE SCHOOL DIFFERENTLY.
"We see a place where what a student does is more important than where the student comes from, where success is rewarded but the effort that provides it is cherished. We seek to move students from dependent to independent learners, from receivers to creators of knowledge. We offer an unconventional way of experiencing conventional knowledge through experiential learning, and we bring the science of RTP into the curriculum."
- From the RTHS Website
Research Triangle High School uses a flipped model to create a unique experience of high school for students from 13 different counties in North Carolina. The school engages professionals from Research Triangle Park in their STEM education. The school's diversity is reflected both in the students and in the curriculum. As a STEM school, the focus is on increasing access to science, technology, engineering and math, however RTHS has strong athletics and a robust arts program. Their mission to "see school differently" has been evident in our time there. Our experience as documentary photographers at RTHS has proven their mission to be authentic.
Our Duke class is called Documentary Photography: Education, Childhood and Growth. Each Duke student spent the fall semester documenting one story, either about an individual, a group or a program at RTHS. Duke students produced audio-visual slide shows as well as large final prints for a public exhibit for the students, families, and staff. The website and all prints were donated to the school as a gift. Service learning at Duke provided a grant to produce this website, as well as all prints from a final exhibit were given to the school as a gift and an effort to support the hard work they put in every day to educate the children of Durham.
We are grateful to everyone at Research Triangle: the many teachers, staff, students and parents! Thank you for letting us put RTHS in Focus. We hope these stories are as inspiring for you to watch as they were for us to make. We also hope that seeing them will make you see school differently!
