Bloomington has always had a well-engaged citizenry. Tonight, I got the backstory on the creation of something that I found to be immensely useful in 2005: Citizen’s Academy. I was encouraged to attend by both Regina Moore and Sophia Travis. It’s been going for 10 years now, and there was a reunion of sorts in the Bloomington City Council chambers this evening. I would have gone anyway, but I volunteered to take photographs of the event for the city.

Citizen's Academy 10th Anniversary Alumni

Citizen's Academy 10th Anniversary Alumni

I got there a bit early to setup and recognized some of the faces in the 2008 class that was concluding its first session prior to the celebration. Our good friend Ruth Rives, and our mail carrier were in attendance. The class seems to spawn graduates that go on to actively engaged citizenship. The current City Council president, Susan Sandberg, was in my class. Our current Mayor, Mark Kruzan, took the class in 2001. Regina Moore took it in 1999. Rick Dietz, the City IT Director took it. Tim Mayer took it. The list goes on and on.

So, it was a good crowd.

I was a bit frazzled for the photo shoot because it was 100 people and the balcony had no electrical outlets! This blew my mind and was something I wasn’t prepared for. So, I had to improvise at the last minute and place my strobes down on the main level and shoot from a chair midway under the balcony. I also didn’t have much time to balance my lights. Fortunately, my friend Joe was a 2006 graduate and helped me manipulate them a bit. If I were thinking, I would have brought my wireless control with me. But I was hoping for a lightweight gig.

Photographs are here. I hadn’t planned on doing anything other than the group shot, but Vicki Provine mentioned that she forgot her camera, so I lent a hand where I could.

One of those nights where I remember why I love Bloomington so much: because there are people who care about it even more than me.