I love a lot of things about Bishop Maginn High School. One of the things I love is how comfortable the students are. The school is orderly and calm, but when I look around, I see kids being themselves, feeling safe and supported in their individuality.

This is not an accident, it’s something Principal Mike Toland and Sue Silverstein, and the other teachers work hard at. Many of these kids have had tough lives, struggles with food, shattered families, even genocide and war.

When I talk to them, they tell me that they have never been at ease before being themselves, talking about how they feel, or lying down on a bench next to the state the kids call “High Five Jesus” who greets them at the door.

I love this photo. The student was entirely at ease lying on a bench, making a cellphone call. She was between classes and was breaking no rules, and High Five Jesus liked the company, I think. I asked her if I could take her photo, and she said sure and laughed. So did her boyfriend, staying just out of sight.

There are a lot of individuals at Bishop Maginn, they all are required to wear uniforms, but they are free to make the uniforms their own. They never are asked to give up their sense of self; they are never humiliated or bullied.

In a sense, this photo captured the spirit of the school. I was never comfortable in school, forever on guard, hiding from bullies, hiding from teachers, ducking gym, and homework assignments. Desperate to get home or run outside and hide.

I appreciate learning that it doesn’t have to be this way. I enjoyed that this young woman felt perfectly at ease being herself. And grateful she permitted me to take the photo.