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‘Week at the G’ Photo Project to Encapsulate Student Life

By carolinianweb on March 27, 2019 • ( 0 )

Krysten Heberly
Editor-in-Chief

Every member of the UNCG community has their idea of what this University means to them. Whether it is scoring a basket during a successful season, typing the last sentence of a ten-page paper or simply laying a blanket on the EUC lawn and watching the clouds, there is always something that makes our Spartans feel like a part of a bigger picture. To celebrate this feeling of community that exists here on campus, University Communications is launching “A Week at the G,” a photo project which seeks to capture the identity of UNCG for one whole week.

In an interview with Morgan Glover, the Social Media Manager of University Communications, she states that “A Week at the G” is “a collaborative, campus-wide photo project. During the week of March 31- April 6, we’re asking members of the campus and community to share photos that capture what it’s like to be a Spartan, and [to help depict] the collective impact that we have on our community.”

These photos will likely be much more in the moment and newsier than what University Communications typically publishes online, according to Glover. She hopes the photos will capture a more hands-on version of UNCG.

Rather than staged photographs showing the best angles of campus, she hopes for something “a little more candid. Instead of the picture of the person giving the presentation, it’s what happens before or after the presentation. It’s the high fives… it’s the students who are in the library and they’re hashing something out, they’re studying for an exam, they’re student leaders who, before the event happens, are doing the prep work and getting things ready.”

The photos will be provided through a variety of outlets, including hashtagged or submitted images provided by students, professors and alumni, and photo requests of what the campus community would like to see. The photos are not limited to pictures of campus, and may include conferences and events, or other campus related projects. According to Morgan, “If you’re studying abroad or you’re a new alum in your first year at a new job and it’s related to what you studied here, it could be a photograph opportunity.”

The photos will be accessible through a photo stream which will be updated throughout the day and evening. They will be uploaded into categories that are separated by the day they were uploaded. They will also remain on the website, potentially for years to come. Morgan states, “after the week, this website will still be live, and people can go back and see those images and share from that website during this week and after. We…want a collection of images that capture campus in a different way.”

There will also be a “Photo of the Day” contest for each day of the event, in which the winner will receive a $50 SpartanCash card. There is also the possibility of the photography from this project being used again. Glover states, “this is one way of generating new photography that we can use going forward. So these photos may be used in a Department Newsletter. It could be used on our website, or in a spread in the Alumni magazine. It could be used in…promotional material, ads, social media, it could be used in different ways.” More details about the future usage of these photos can be found on the website, so uploaders “will know before they submit whether they’re comfortable with us using the photos in that way.”

As for the future of “A Week at the G,” the upcoming event is hopefully not the last of its kind. According to Glover, “this could be something that happens every year or two years. If it goes well, and people really enjoy it and we get a lot of participation, then maybe every Spring or every Fall/Spring, there can be a week where we document this.” Hopefully, “A Week at the G” will become a staple of student, faculty and alumni life here, and serve as a document of the community that has been established here at UNCG for years to come.

Photos can be submitted to “A Week at the G” through their link on the campus homepage, the website https://weekattheg.uncg.edu/ or by using the hashtags #AWeekattheG and #UNCGWay on Instagram or Twitter. For more information about the project, visit the “A Week at the G” website.