About 200 Akron-area charter school students received free school pictures, thanks to their art teacher and a few local sponsors.
This is the third year Nicole Bozickovich, an art teacher at STEAM Academy in Akron, has organized the free photos, after she discovered that most of her students could not afford to have their pictures taken on picture day.
“I asked the students who was taking school photos and not many of them raised their hand,” she says. “I realized it was because of the cost and I started thinking there’s got to be something I can do.”
After getting permission from the school’s principal, Bozickovich, a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art, reached out to her alma mater to see if they would be willing to provide equipment and volunteer photographers.
“They thought it was a great idea and offered to have CIA students come and assist me,” she says.
Simply Color Lab, an Akron-based printing company, heard about the endeavor and offered to print photo packages for students while Jakprints Printing Co. in Cleveland has donated yearbooks and Navy polo shirts for students to wear in their photos.
Bozickovich says she enjoys seeing the reactions from parents and students when they receive their photos and is in the process of starting a non-profit organization to help bring free school pictures to other area charter schools.