Last year Jalen had a major photography assignment which he had to develop throughout the year. He had to come up with a concept and then show he developed it, and then submit his final assignment.
He told me that he always remembered when Noah was in the ICU (and we knew he may pass away) that Aaron said to him while they were walking together outside the hospital 'you never know what is going on in someone's life. Everyone here looks fine, but they may have something terrible going on like us'.
That stuck with him and he decided for his photography assignment he wanted to portray that in some way. His first idea was to take photos of people looking happy, but standing in places that you wouldn't necessarily think was a happy environment. He took photos of a friend smiling at the cemetery, another friend in an abandoned building and Harri in a burnt out building.
He then thought about how he could portray it better using video, as he could tell someone's story more. He talked to his teacher about it, and he agreed that it was a good idea.
Jalen chose to make three videos, (and had photos to match) for his major assignment, and they were shown at the Newstead College arts night at the end of last year. There were three TV screens on the wall, with headphones to listen to each video. Around the TVs were the photos that he took.
He knew straight away that he wanted to tell his own story as he's obviously been through so much in the last 6 years and if you just met him now, you wouldn't really understand how far he's come.
He just started grade 7 a couple of weeks after Aaron died, and it was a tough year. He missed so much of school because he felt physically sick every day from the trauma and grief. It was so hard to help him, when I was going through the same things myself, but I also had to go to work and help Harri and Kobe with their grief.
He got some great feedback from his video, and we were told that there were many people in tears. Some of his teachers couldn't even watch them, as they knew it would upset them too much.
This is the first video which is his story and how he 'feels like myself again'.
Please tell Jalen that was so, so well done. And tender. How proud Aaron must be. I haven't had trials like he has, but I have struggled with anxiety, and this gave me hope that one of these days I will feel better.
ReplyDeleteThat was awesome !!!
ReplyDeleteIncredibly well done! God bless him and your family.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate him being candid and honest. My brother died almost 20 years ago leaving 3 young children and I'm sure they can relate to this. Thank you for sharing your story!
ReplyDeleteWhat a well spoken and strong young man. Excellent job. Please tell Jalen thank you!
ReplyDeletewhat a touching video and a great idea for a project. You must be so proud of him- what a touching video.
ReplyDeleteWow! Well done Jalen (and Lisa, Harry and Kobe)! You are an awesome team. xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a terrific job Jalen has done with the videos. I don't know any of you, but I feel like I do. I hope I never have to experience all the grief that your whole family has been through, but this gives me hope that people can overcome terrible instances in life and come out of it at some point feeling like themselves again. VERY well done. I love your family
ReplyDeleteThat was absolutely awesome.
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