What is Skyline College all about? An art exhibition sponsored by Common Ground is sponsoring the exhibit “Who Are We? We Are Everyone” to help the off campus community learn what this campus is all about and to connect on a personal level with students and faculty.

Skyline College is holding an art exhibition which represents what the campus is all about in the Gallery Theater through November 13.

According to Skyline College professor and co-founder of Common Ground: Bridging Community Ideas Rosemary Bell, in conjunction with the art exhibition is a presentation on Nov. 8 called “Living in Our Skin: The Biological and Social Meaning of Skin Color”, with guest speaker Nina Jablonski, Ph.D.

The exhibition this year is focusing on letting the community outside of Skyline know what campus life is all about.

The exhibit consists of photographs that students submit of their childhood, family, friends, or memorable moments in their lives. With each photo, the student submits a short explanation of what the picture is, what it symbolizes, and why it is important to them.

“This is the chance to connect with people in a different way,” said volunteer student assistant Priscilla Schwartz.

The gallery is open to submission by students and faculty. Only one photo can be submitted per person because it allows more people to be able to submit their work.

After submission, the photos are scanned and enlarged to 8″X10″ size, and the photos and captions are framed and hung in the gallery.

According to Schwartz, the exhibition is going extremely well with 80 photos that have been submitted thus far.

“I’ve worked with Common Ground before and I just love volunteering,” said Schwartz. “I have a personal interest in this because scanning the photos and people’s comments; it’s a very personal connection that I find.”

Every year Common Ground sponsors an art exhibition at Skyline College. One of the first exhibitions was called “I Can’t Believe You Said That”, where the students went to the gallery and wrote on the wall words and things that they had said to someone else that was hurtful.

Common Ground gets their funding annually from the President’s Innovation Fund.

“Hopes for Common Ground are to raise awareness; to sometimes address issues that are uncomfortable,” said Bell. “To really project to the outside community what Skyline’s all about.”

Common Ground: Bridging Community and Ideas was started in 2002, when there was an incident that happened on campus where a homosexual student was being harassed.

Professors Lori Slicton and Rosemary Bell came together to discuss the incident, and concluded that serious issues such as this one that occur on campus need to be addressed to the student body and the public. They decided to come up with Common Ground as a way to raise awareness around campus.

Other Skyline professors involved with Common Ground are Bridget Fischer and Jennifer Merrill.

This exhibition is a great way to learn about students in a deeper connection. All students are welcome to submit photos and it is highly recommended to post photos in the gallery.

“I hope that people who view the photos really see that they are being let into the thoughts and lives of their classmates,” said Schwartz.