GAME NIGHT: Being stuck at home has definitely made our family push each other’s buttons more than usual, but we also have been able to make room for quality family time. Playing games always brings out the goofy side of the family, a side I love to see. Photo by Camille Wilson.
The current batch of MacJournalism students began the WRKxFMLY project, a national initiative coordinated by Working Assumptions. The project’s purpose: to explore how we all balance work and family in our lives.
McCallum photojournalists have been a part of the project since 2017, and the partnership has enabled students to create some of the most personal and meaningful work to come out of the class during that time.
To celebrate the occasion, we collected the award-winning work created by Mac photojournalism students over the past six years as an inspiration to the current crop of students and as a reminder to all of us that we all share the need to balance these two essential parts of our collective experience.
2017
My mother is a Pediatric Surgeon at Dell Children’s Hospital here in Austin. The following photos are snapshots of everyday things she does in her job. Occasionally during a special work period called Call, where my mom, Dr. Garcia, will spend up to 48 hours at the hospital, she can find some time to get some shuteye. She can watch TV, sleep, shower, and exercise in the call room. ”The call room is super helpful to refocus my energy when I am on call. I can relax and watch Ellen, or take a power nap on the bed or sofa.” Photo by Gregory James. Excellence Award winner.
2018
My mom was bucked by a horse and had a concussion. She couldn’t watch TV or listen to music or podcasts. In the picture, she is using my laptop to listen to white noise to keep her head from hurting. The whole experience was horrible, as you can tell from the expression on her face. (Cole Tilson)
BORED. BORED. BORED. I’ve heard the words “I’m bored” or ” I have nothing to do” more times than I can count from my little siblings. I do love them a lot but it is driving me crazy. After bothering everyone in the house and annoying them they lay down in the living room suffering from a bad case of boredom. Photo by Anna Garcia. (Anna Garcia)
2021
PASTA AND PAPERWORK: Kevin Dietz works at his computer while his wife Rachel Dietz gets her dinner. Kevin’s work sometimes causes him to be late for dinner. Because of the limited space, Kevin has to set up his computers in the main living area, but the Dietz family has been able to make it work! Photo by Francesca Dietz.
![A PRIDE-FUL WEEK OF CELEBRATION:
As part of AISDs week-long celebration of PRIDE, students of the McCallum Spectrum Club worked to create a week full of activities, prizes and helping hands to support the schools LGBTQ+ community. The club is widely available for anyone to join, and specializes in creating a safe space for students to share and give advice. While Pride month itself isn’t until June, AISD designates one week in March to celebrate and commemorate the importance of this part of the student body.
As part of the week of festivities, the club held a booth in the front hall handing out pride stickers, pins and merch to passers by. For junior Zane Joly, the booth idea was brought up as a way for students to engage with one another, and connect with the community.
“I call out to people in the halls, ‘hey, do you want stickers?’” Joly said. “We just give out free pride stickers and sometimes other free pride merch to the students of Macallum because everybody likes pride stickers.”
While the week itself is packed with a variety of different activities, the overall goal is to bring students closer together and create a safer environment for self expression at McCallum.
“The idea for the student panel largely came from the black [history] student panel that is done during Black History Month,” Joly said. “And the idea for giving out free stuff was developed at Spectrum last year.”
Joly is not only a member of the Spectrum club, but also holds a leadership position giving them a more hands-on role with the projects and Pride Week activities.
“McCallum has a very high queer population,” Joly said. “I think Its nice that we get a chance to celebrate Pride because Pride Month is during the summer, and I think its just a nice thing for the community and getting to just celebrate it.”
While the merch table at lunch was only a small part of the numerous parts of McCallum’s Pride week, for Joly this small impact made all the difference.
“The purpose of Pride is to make people not feel alone and to make them feel safe,” Joly said. “The goal is [to make people] happy about a part of themselves that theyre often conditioned to not feel good about.”
Caption by Chloe Lewcock. Photo by Shila Gill.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/53597258192_6e7168d8ae_o-1-600x338.jpg)
![BACKGROUND IN THE BUSINESS: Dressed by junior designer Kaitlyn Gerrie, senior Chamila Muñoz took to the “Dreamland” runway this past weekend. While it was her first time participating in the McCallum fashion show, Muñoz isn’t new to the modeling world.
I modeled here and there when I was a lot younger, maybe five or six [years old] for some jewelry brands and small businesses, but not much in recent years,” Muñoz said.
Muñoz had hoped to participate in last year’s show but couldn’t due to scheduling conflicts. For her senior year, though, she couldn’t let the opportunity pass her by.
“It’s [modeling] something I haven’t done in a while so I was excited to step out of my comfort zone in a way,” Muñoz said. “I always love trying new things and being able to show off designs of my schoolmates is such an honor.”
The preparation process for the show was hectic, leaving the final reveal of Gerrie’s design until days before the show, but the moment Muñoz tried on the outfit, all the stress for both designer and model melted away.
“I didn’t get to try on my outfit until the day before, but the look on Kaitlyn’s face when she saw what she had worked so hard to make actually on a model was just so special,” Muñoz said. “I know it meant so much to her. But then she handed me a blindfold and told me I’d be walking with it on, so that was pretty wild.”
Caption by Francie Wilhelm.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/53535098892_130167352f_o-600x400.jpg)
