Brian Adams bio shown under Pulitzer Center website.

Student Equity & Belonging Club (SEBC) hosted Brian Adams over Zoom on Tuesday, Oct. 14, to share his experience as an Indigenous freelance photographer. The event was during fourth and fifth periods in the College and Career Center, and around 40 SEBC members and other students attended. 

Adams has been freelancing for 18 years. He is based in Anchorage, Alaska, but is originally from Girdwood, Alaska, about 30 miles south of Anchorage. However, his family’s home village is called Kivalina, which is on the northwest coast of the state. He and his brother grew up as the only Indigenous kids at their school. 

“We selected Brian [to speak] as his story was so interesting,” Director of Equity and Belonging Jennifer Rowe said. “We were excited to have a journalist that identified as Indigenous who focused on sharing stories about Indigenous people. This was a [great] way for SEBC to acknowledge Native American Heritage Month.”

SEBC typically schedules virtual journalist sessions like this one, one to two times a year through the Pulitzer Center, Rowe said. Program Manager for the K-12 Education department at the Pulitzer Center Jaya Mukherjee, connected LT with Adams. 

“We work with journalists across the country who publish their work at a range of local and global outlets,” she said. “Great journalists have a proven track record of groundbreaking investigations and coverage.” 

The Pulitzer Center creates communities of learning that amplify journalism through outreach programs and connecting teachers and students with stories that matter, according to the Pulitzer Center website.  

“Our goal is to cultivate a more curious, informed, empathetic, and engaged public by connecting students to underreported global news stories and the journalists who cover them,” Mukherjee said. “When students have an opportunity to meet a journalist like Brian, not only are they learning more about the historical and contemporary issues that affect Indigenous lives, but they also have the opportunity to ask questions about his reporting process: what drives him as a journalist, how he approaches the subjects he photographs and how he capture[s] complex and emotional stor[ies] through images.” 

Adams’ presentation offered a unique perspective on present-day events that are going on in this world that people might not be aware of or have ever witnessed firsthand, SEBC board member Bri Gonzalez ‘24 said. His Inuit culture also provided a viewpoint of what is happening in Inuit communities in Alaska. 

“Brian’s work is impactful as you can see current events up close with the context of the image produced,” Gonzalez said. “When learning, I find it really important that there are visual depictions of the events we are learning about because it is one thing to read and annotate out of a textbook, however, there is an entirely different effect when you can visualize the problems we are discussing in class to grasp the significance better.”

The main goal of SEBC is to foster a safe and affirming environment where every student can learn and grow to their fullest potential with a feeling of belonging, Gonzalez said. With presentations like Adams’, the club can recognize and learn about different cultures to help make LT a more inclusive environment. 

“When learning about Indigenous communities at LT, I think a powerful tool to use to educate students would be demonstrating these lively communities through photographs or videos so students can better learn about the livelihood of these people visually,” Gonzalez said.