A display case titled “Faces of Wayland High School” was put up next to the main office on October 19. It shows 16 black-and-white photos of various members of the WHS community, including students, teachers and other faculty.

Senior Calvin Laituri created the display. According to Laituri, the idea for the project came from Principal Allyson Mizoguchi. Mizoguchi approached Laituri at the start of the school year because she had the idea for the project but didn’t have a way to execute it.

According to Mizoguchi, she thought of the project idea while thinking of ways to better visually represent the diversity of the student body on campus. The idea partly arose from discussions last spring on microaggressions. It was also inspired by WHS class of 2015 graduate Brendan Lau’s “Humans of Wayland” project on Facebook.

“I hope that people who see the display stop, look at the faces, recognize someone, smile and really examine and appreciate the visual differences and similarities that comprise our high school community,” Mizoguchi said.

According to Laituri, the display case also builds a deeper sense of connection between the students and people of the school. He explains that the display looks into the lives of the people that students see in the hallway. He believes that seeing what they have to say is more important than just seeing their faces.

“People go by [the display case] every day, and they see the pictures. Before with the old display, it would just be there and people would walk by without even noticing it,” Laituri said. “Now that it’s changed into something different, people have been noticing it, looking at these pictures and thinking about the people around them.”

Laituri explains the display is called “Faces of WHS,” so it includes all members of the WHS community, not just its students but “everyone that would walk into our buildings.” Currently, the display features students, a couple teachers and some of the custodial staff.

According to Laituri, the main reason the photos are black-and-white is that correcting color pictures are more difficult. The monochrome photos are also more thought-provoking and generally more aesthetically pleasing.

The project is a team effort with contributions from both Laituri and Mizoguchi. Mizoguchi first finds people in the commons that are interested in being in the display and subsequently leads them to Laituri to schedule a time to take pictures. Laituri usually takes the pictures during his frees, lunch periods and sometimes after school.

Laituri said the display will change over time. It took several weeks for the initial display to go up, for the entire process of finding the people, taking and editing pictures and setting up the display case can be quite a lengthy process. Laituri hopes to improve this process in the next edition.

“You want to connect people to other people that they normally don’t talk to, and with pictures you can only go so far,” Laituri said. “So we want to have quotes and other different methods of capturing the essence of these people.”

Laituri is unsure as to the future of the display. He likes the display but wants to see “where it’s going to go” before making any decisions about the future. According to Laituri, the original intention of the Faces of WHS display was to change up the old display. Also, Mizoguchi hopes that each time the display changes, it will generate more discussion and energy.

Laituri hopes that someone else is willing to take over the display case after his graduation. He explains that a Faces of Wayland display year-round could get boring for students.

“It would be great if someone took over and created a rotating display that would continually appeal to the WHS audience,” Laituri said. “It might not need to be the same thing, but something that would change over time would be great.”

The project is currently funded by materials that Laituri and Mizoguchi already have. They are printing from a school printer, using frames that Mizoguchi had in the back of her office and photography equipment that Laituri already had.

The first edition of the display was put up on October 19, and Laituri hopes to update it every five to six weeks. The display is scheduled to change by the end of November.

Laituri started photography in middle school. He explored photography portraits and different styles of photography. This year, he and fellow senior Branden Ma created a company called Cal & Ma Photography to take senior portraits.

“[Photography is] interesting. It’s more than just capturing an image or a moment in time,” Laituri said. “It’s also capturing a feeling, the aspect of whatever your subject is. There’s a bit more into it than it seems.”