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By Riana Dazon  –  FEATURE –

Excellence. One word, three syllables. We know what it means, but what does it actually look like? We value excellence in our culture and everyday lives at Lincoln High. We aspire to show excellence in every way possible; to acknowledge those who implement it on a daily basis in a humbling, and in an artistic way.

Photography teacher Yvonne Meyer spearheaded a project this year to showcase excellence at LHS through a collaborative project between different Lincoln High students. Called “The Excellence Project,” it showcased what excellence means to them resulting in different products: photo installations from Advanced Photography students, 50 black and white portraits of Lincoln High students who have shown excellence in the school and the community, an exhibition of their work of at the Non-Profit Hub, and a modular sculpture that was formally presented at the Spring Art Show. The project has gained attention of the school and the media due to its many moving, cohesive parts.

“Our mascot, The Links, stands for tradition, diversity, unity, and excellence,” Meyer said. “All represent who we are, but for me, excellence stands out as I see it daily in so many forms. I stand in awe and reverence of the stories of students overcoming great odds or using their gifts to help others. I couldn’t keep this to myself.  These stories deserve to be shared.”

Wendy Van, President of the Foundation for LPS, was excited to be able to help with the project. The Foundation of LPS was awarded a grant by the Nebraska Arts Council that supported the monetary needs of the Excellence Project. “Our mission is to help all students reach their full potential, and The Excellence Project is working just to do that.”

Excellence in Our Lives

Each year, Meyer creates a project with her Advanced Photography students that aligns with one of the traits that represents in the four Links. Students are assigned to create a series of photos that represents what the topic means to them (this year the trait was excellence) to be presented at a First Friday event, an artwalk in which local galleries and businesses open late on the first Friday of every month.

Senior Tra Mai is an advanced photography student that contributed to the project through a series of portraits in her collection.  “I actually didn’t have an idea of what I should take a picture of, because I like a lot things. Then, I realized that I liked portraits,” Mai said. “There was this moment (during the photoshoot), where people space out, they’re in deep thought: and I wanted to capture that moment.”

“(The Advanced Photography students) have only had little over a month to pull their ideas and images together,” Meyer said. “It has been a demanding, on the edge of unreasonable, pace and I could not be more proud of their efforts and results.”

Mai and other students’ work were showcased at the Non-Profit Hub, located in downtown Lincoln at 211 N 14th St throughout the month of April. These installations from students are then published in a book for accessibility of their work, with the title Excellence in Our Lives.

The Fifty Black and White Portraits

Meyer discovered an exhibition from JR, a French street artist who initiated the Inside Out Project, in which he “uses his camera to show the world its true face by pasting photos of the human face across massive canvases.” It is through black and white, large portraits posted on a side of a building in which he achieves this work. Fascinated with the idea, she thought of how it could be an amazing opportunity for Lincoln High to be a part of the movement. With months of planning, presentations, fundraising and preparation, the Lincoln High version of the Inside Out project came to fruition, with some few changes along the way.

The student body was asked to nominate students from Lincoln High School who have exhibited excellence in their lives. Through numerous responses from their Google Form and written submissions, the 50 nominees were selected (by Lincoln High students and faculty members) with care to reflect the demographics of the school through gender and ethnicity. “There’s so many students here that are from doing what is considered excellence,” senior Josh Leavell said. Leavell plays the role of  a photographer to the 50 nominees. “Not just being told to be excellent, but doing it without thought, and those are the students who deserve this nomination,” Leavell said.

“I was shocked. I was touched that people would take time out of their day to write about me,” senior Mikayla Parks said. Parks has only attended Lincoln High School for two years and has been involved in the Lincoln High Student Council. “I try my best to be excellent everyday; but I am honored to be a part of something like this.”

With their photo installations, the Advanced Photography students took and edited the 50 black and white portraits. Meyer had hoped to display the 35 ”x 53” portraits temporarily at the Lincoln High exterior. However, when the district did not approve that part of the proposal, she and her students thought of an alternative to the plan.

Through the help of the staff, the students constructed a 9 feet tall and 20 feet long sculpture of large disks. A portrait is pasted on each disk of the self-standing sculpture, which was formally presented at the Spring Art Show on May 11, 2017. The sculpture will be resting at the cafeteria courtyard, and will be there until the end of the school year. Meyer and her students will reassemble the sculpture for different events such as the Mayor’s Arts Awards, TEDxLincoln, and the Lincoln Arts Festival in the fall.

First Friday at the Non Profit Hub

The room was packed with Lincoln High students, parents, friends and relatives in support of this event. Students’ works were plastered all over the walls of the orange walls of Non-Profit Hub, while a sample of the modular sculpture sat in the middle of the open space. Prose and poetry from creative writing students were set by the entrance of the third floor space, and conversations between artists and the public filled the room about their artwork and the premise of the project.

“I loved every minute of it,” Media Specialist Loory Woods said. “There was so much energy in the atmosphere. Students were excited to show their work and the people were in awe. It was very well organized and it was an experience that I was proud to be a part of.”

The Excellence Project wants to connect Lincoln High students with the community, to inspire youth with a message of achieving excellence through their individuality and hard work. Through a lasting body of artwork, the project aspires to express student values and perspectives that promotes discussions that challenge our biases.

“The Excellence Project was far more than excellent,” senior Macy Behrens said. Behrens was a part of the 50 nominees in the project. “It gave me an opportunity to recognize the unseen models of the school who don’t necessarily recognize themselves as excellent, and the First Friday event was a chance to talk to them.”

Meyer will be hosting another reception on the 4th of June to distribute Excellence of Our Lives to advanced photo students, and a professional, bound copy of the 50 black and white portraits to nominees of the project. Meyer will be submitting a video about the Excellence Project for the Inside Out Project in Paris: which will be found on the international website, http://www.insideoutproject.net/en.

“I think what I hope to see in the future is projects similar to this,” Leavell said. “The little things we can do is show the students that deserve to be shown.”

“It’s wrapping up its stay at Lincoln High,” Meyer said. “But it’s just starting its mission (which is outside of Lincoln High). It’s the ending and a start of something exciting.”