Jon Hand's documentary explores the students' endeavors to document their own worlds through writing and photography, in this project that teacher Nicole Kinney says connected the participants with their environment, families, teachers and neighborhoods in ways that were rewarding to everyone involved.

"The kids loved it," Kenney says.  "They were so excited to get the [disposable] cameras in their hands, and experience the follow-through. 'These are my pictures,' they would say."  Kenney is now teaching at Hillary Park Elementary, but says she was at Native American for 10 years and is still attached to the teachers and students there.

Kenney's objective in contacting BRO was to see that the school got its due - and to get the public to watch the documentary.  "The student population is about 25 percent Native American, and English is a second language for a lot of the kids," she says.  "Now they have a lot of Bantu students, and a total of 20 different languages - it's like another international school - with 99 percent poverty and almost all of the kids on free or reduced lunch.  I'd say about half of these kids don't live with their parents - they have big issues they have to live with."

Because of this, Kenney was all the more thrilled with the art project and the students' reaction to it.  She says her former colleague, teacher Robin Fischer, hosted the Writing with Light Project in her classroom, and that it netted 100 percent student participation from start to finish. Kenney also credits Just Buffalo's Karen Lewis, who taught poetry, and teaching artist Amy Meza Luraschi, who lent her photography skills to the students.

"I would say 'connection' was the theme of the project, and it was a very positive thing," Kenney says.  She reminds us that some of the Grover Cleveland High School students who went to the state championship for soccer last year were graduates of the Native American school.  "Some of these kids come to this country with nothing - from living in camps, with no English, but you'd get them outside, and they were these amazing soccer players."

And so, as Kenney sees it, the art and writing project brings these students one step closer to the classroom, to teachers, to communication in ways that they excelled in and were proud of. 

"They might just be learning English, they might read slowly, but you will see that they are very proud of their work," Kenney says. "This is a special thing."