When you’ve lived in a town for a number of years, it’s easy to overlook the hidden gems that surround you every day. Alternately if you’re new to town, you might not be aware of all that Holliston has to offer. This summer, five members of the Holliston Drug & Alcohol Awareness Coalition’s (HDAAC) high school youth group, the Youth Action Team (YAT), aimed to change this by creating a photography project celebrating the positive spaces and people in our community.
Inspired by Grace Burgett, HHS graduate of 2024 and HDAAC intern, Photographing Positivity is a social media-based project sharing collages of photographs taken by high school students. Each collage highlights a different business, organization, or public space that helps Holliston feel a little more like home. This project is designed to highlight not only familiar places, but also resources and experiences that community members may not know about. In order to make the project accessible to as many people as possible in town, the collages will live on HDAAC’s Instagram and Facebook pages so residents can find these special spots around town anytime they’re looking for something to do or somewhere to go.
With the help of the bus and drivers from The Center, we spent more than 14 hours over the course of six days traveling throughout Holliston. We were able to capture more than 37 different locations, including parks, town resources, schools, faith organizations, public safety, and local businesses. Every spot was unique, each with its own stories and crucial role in the community.
The project gave us the opportunity to explore parts of our community from a new perspective while meeting many business owners and collaborating with Coalition partners. Each stop reminded us of the importance of the people behind the businesses and organizations, without whom they would not exist. We saw dedicated and passionate individuals who make it their mission every day to foster a more caring and engaged community, creating safe spaces to spread positivity. Jasleen Kaur, one of the Youth Action Team photographers, observed, “I never knew there could be so much in a small town like ours, but it felt great seeing so much positivity within our community.”
Beginning Wednesday, September 2nd, we will be sharing a new Photographing Positivity collage through HDAAC’s Facebook & Instagram pages every other Wednesday through June 2027. We hope the project inspires residents to explore somewhere new, support a local business or organization, meet new people, and appreciate the many positive things happening right here in our community. Be sure to follow along!