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SANTA BARBARA, CA, January 21, 2026 — On the walls of the Santa Barbara Junior High School library, framed photographs quietly tell students’ stories: a bus ride in the early morning, friends gathered around a birthday cake, a kite flying high above. Each image began the same way, with a student checking out a camera and being asked to slow down, notice beauty, and capture what matters.
Those photographs are part of Picture Me Grom, a project created by Chris Greeley, a teacher librarian at Santa Barbara Junior High School, and funded through the Santa Barbara Education Foundation’s Teacher Grants program. Later this month, SBEF will award more than $228,000 in Teacher Grants to educators across the Santa Barbara Unified School District, supporting innovative teaching that brings learning to life in meaningful ways.
Greeley’s grant supported a project giving students access to simple, analog film cameras, no screens, no filters, and no unlimited retakes. Students are asked to take just a dozen photos of moments they find beautiful or meaningful, including the people they love, places that matter, and fleeting experiences they want to remember.
“It’s a wonderful thing when they are asked to slow down,” Greeley said. “Knowing they don’t have endless photos to take. They must have intention and patience, but also be okay if a moment passes without being captured.”
After developing their film, each student chooses one photograph to be printed, framed, and displayed in the school library. The result is a rotating gallery of student life that is honest, funny, tender, and deeply human.
One image that stands out for Greeley is a photograph taken by a student named Alexis. Unable to take a yearlong art elective due to his class schedule, Alexis used the camera to document his BRAT-themed birthday party. The photo he chose shows a group of friends crowding around him as he puckers his lips at a neon green cake, grainy, imperfect, and full of love. “It’s priceless,” Greeley said.
Teacher Grants give educators the flexibility to respond to students’ interests and needs. “There are just simply less funds to provide the types of experiences we all know benefit students, both academically and personally,” he said. “SBEF allows teachers to dream up amazing things for their students, and then actually make those dreams come true.”
That support, he says, is deeply personal. “I feel seen and valued as a teacher. We are with students for 6 hours a day, 180 days a year, year after year. We get to know them as people and as learners, and we see openings almost daily that will provide meaningful learning opportunities. The Education Foundation, I think, understands this and allocates the money to let us actualize our vision.”
As SBEF prepares to award more than $228,000 in Teacher Grants later this month, stories like Greeley’s reflect the heart of the program: empowering educators and creating moments that stay with students long after the school year ends.
To the donors who make these grants possible, Greeley offered gratitude. “These grants are helping educators mold our future and allowing them to expose students to so much with the hope of sparking and fanning any sort of interest that may have otherwise gone unknown.”
Founded in 1985, the Santa Barbara Education Foundation promotes private support for Santa Barbara’s public education system, serving nearly 12,000 students across 21 schools. For more information, visit santabarbaraeducation.org.
