Tucked away in the southeast corner of Bainbridge High School’s 300 Building, a brick wall has been transformed into an artistic homage to HOPE.

About 90 students in BHS photography teacher Paul Hyllested’ s classes spent the last several weeks creating a personal exhibit of photos and words to convey their thoughts and feelings of what hope means to them.

When Bainbridge Youth Services approached Hyllested with the idea for the Hope Camera Project, he and his students embraced the it.

“I decided to do the HOPE Photo Project with the students because I believed it would help them learn about conveying emotions in photos and about working collaboratively in a community project,” Hyllested says.

“For me, the idea of sharing Hope through photos sounded like a creative and expressive experience for the photographers and a powerful experience for the viewers. We live in a very visual age and I hope that the students will understand through this project that their visual creations can impact others in a positive way.”

Hyllested said the project means a lot to him both professionally and personally.

“As a cancer survivor, I feel hope is important because it can be what helps keep an individual moving forward through the most difficult times in their life and it can enhance the most wonderful times as well. For me, hope has always gotten me through the darkest times and it is something that I feel should be shared.”

The Hope Camera Project is one way our community is helping young people connect to sources of hope in their own lives that they can draw strength from when obstacles or challenges inevitably arise. At Bainbridge Youth Services, we embrace the definition of hope used in 20 years of research. Hope in this context is believing that tomorrow can be better than today and that you have the power to make it happen.

Here is what two students had to say about what hope means to them:

• Hope, to me, means having the courage to continue moving forward with a positive mindset despite the circumstances. Hope means believing that your life will get better no matter how unbearable it may seem at the moment. While taking these photographs I found a plant that was almost completely brown and dying, but there were a few small leaves that continued to fight for life. I felt that this was such an accurate representation of hope. Those few green leaves kept growing even though it appeared that everything around it was dying.

• Hope to me is something that keeps humans going in life. It keeps us wanting to improve ourselves, our lives and the lives of others. Hope is a very valuable thing to have, because without it you are stuck in the same place in your life without ever improving yourself. Hope is the motivating factor in our lives. The more hope you have, the more successful and happy you will be in your life. Anything in your life that makes you feel good can give you hope even something as simple as a photo.

Hope is sharable. Help start a movement and with your own Hope Camera Project. Take a look around and think about what does hope looks like to you?

Grab your camera or phone and take a picture of something that symbolizes hope in your own life. Add a comment sharing how you see hope in your picture and upload to Instagram and/or Facebook. Tag @bainbridgeyouthservices with the hashtag #hopecam eraproject.

We can’t wait to see what hope looks like in your life.

Cezanne Allen is executive director of Bainbridge Youth Services.