It’s easy to lose your individuality in the Carnegie Melting Pot. Amongst brilliant and culturally diverse peers, you allow yourself to be defined by your workload and suffocate under its ridiculous weight. But no more. You will not be defined by your programming assignment, nor the amount of sleep you got last night, nor the amount of pop tarts you bought at Entropy at 2am. No. Instead, you will regain the pieces of your self that make up your unique existence. And you will do so with the help of, “Humans of Carnegie Mellon University.”
“Humans of Carnegie Mellon University” is a Facebook page (with over 1,500 likes) created by two CMU freshmen, Sara Remi Fields and Jack Fogel. The project is inspired by the original, “Humans of New York” photoblog, and strives to unveil the beautiful, hidden qualities of Carnegie Mellon students. “Though CMU is very diverse in the range of studies it offers, it seems that many times students are always talking about how much work they have or how tired they are. I knew that there was far more than this in the stories of our students, and I hope that this is being highlighted on the page,” said Field about their startup.
The duo seeks out students on campus who don’t strike them as too busy (both Fogel and Fields are considerate of CMU stress culture). When they find a subject, they capture a photograph of him and conduct a short interview. “I like to ask questions that make people think a little, just to start a conversation, not expecting some profound answer off the bat. As I talk to people there’s usually a nice little quote tucked away in the middle, shedding light on their unique situation or personality,” said Fogel. Fields on the other hand opts to ask “bubbly” questions. Like? “What is your spirit animal?”
The project encourages a greater sense of community at CMU. Students are welcome to reveal their quirks and, likewise, view the quirks of their peers. HOCMU escapes the confines of the classroom and reminds the individual that he is indeed an individual, capable of expressing himself beyond exams and homework. “I hope the campus as a whole can gather how lucky we are to go to such an amazing university and to have the opportunities to meet such wonderful people,” Fields said. Her partner in crime, Fogel, followed her train of thought with, “I hope the campus can feel a little more connected, and maybe someone will be inspired along the way.” I trust that anyone within the camera lens of these amazing freshmen will feel more than inspired; their beautiful, raw portraits and insightful questions do the campus community a great justice.