Students Share Stories #Humansofesu

By Tambria Lee
SC Contributing Writer

East Stroudsburg University’s Student Senate’s new social media initiative is all about showcasing the student body by launching the “Humans of ESU” photoblog campaign.

The campaign is run by Student Senate, to highlight the stories, personal experiences, beliefs and thoughts of the student body at East Stroudsburg University.

Senate was inspired by the photo-blog campaign, Humans of New York, created by photographer Brandon Stanton in November 2010. Stanton has collected over 6,000 portraits to date of New York natives and asked the participants questions about their life experiences.

Humans of New York has accumulated a huge following on social media outlets, such as Facebook, Instagram (@humansofny), Twitter, and Tumblr. As a result, many cities, universities, and organizations adapted the photo-blog campaign as a tool highlight their staff or students, including East Stroudsburg University.

Humans of ESU has been the talk of the university. The Instagram photoblog has gained 680 followers since it was launched Fall 2014.

The photoblog has shared 87 experiences from students of East Stroudsburg University, including our Student Senate Preside, Drew Johnson.

Johnson is a junior, majoring in Communication Studies with a Public Relations concentration. For Johnson’s photo, he was asked about his greatest difficulty. “My greatest difficulty,” he told the photographer, “would be not realizing my capacity to prevail. I tend to be a fatalistic thinker and I constantly need reinforcement and feedback before I commit to anything.”

During his first term as student body President, Johnson has openly advocated as the voice of students at ESU.

He is currently running for reelection for the upcoming Presidential candidacy. Johnson said, “Without my friends and their influence, there’s no way I would have done half of these things on campus. Support fuels me.”

Humans Of ESU is a great way for students to let the nation know what it means to be a Warrior and what values a Warrior upholds, such as family, in a lighthearted way.

Two siblings from New York, Marquis and Jamel Abraham, had the opportunity to express their thoughts on family. The question posed to the two was “How important is family to you?” Abraham answered first, and said, “Family is who makes you what you are. One of the hardest times in my life, I needed my brother’s support. Having my brother is what saves me.”

Like Humans of New York, students of East Stroudsburg University are able to share a part of themselves that their peers would not necessarily see while they walk down Normal Street.

Students are asked to share quotes that inspire them, experiences that affected their lives, their passions, their dreams, and their experience as an ESU student.

“ESU is such a small university,” states Student Senate historian Adamaris Marcial, “You see the same people in Dansbury Commons, the University Center, in the library, and on the shuttle. I never once thought ‘I wonder what their story is?’ until Humans of ESU was launched. Now, I am interested where the students I share a campus come from and what they’re thinking.”

Student Senate hopes that the Humans of ESU encourages students to interact more with each other as a Warrior community, by each story and experience shared inspiring students throughout the community.

They also hope that Humans of ESU will provide insight to outsiders that East Stroudsburg University is a university that encourages diversity, innovation, and good-spiritedness amongst their students.

Each student at East Stroudsburg University is walking around with proficiencies, skills, anecdotes, and perceptive. Humans of ESU is a storybook, rewriting the history of East Stroudsburg University; one story at a time.

Each ESU student has a story that is waiting to be told. Student Senate wants to know about yours.

If you are interested in being featured on Humans of ESU, please email your submissions to studentsenate@po-box.esu.edu.

For more information about Humans of ESU and other Student Senate initiatives, follow Student Senate on social media!

Email Tambria at:
tlee@live.esu.edu