Chiang Mai Stories

While this post will be shared with parents, administrators and teachers around the world, I wanted to start by thanking the student at UWCSEA. Your attention to detail, your artistic integrity, and dedication to hard work has been admirable. I know you have been busy and the demands placed on your shoulders have been heavy, but despite the deadlines and frustrations you have created a beautiful body of work. So thank you.

The idea behind these stories was to look beyond the Single Story of Chiang Mai and create a story that lives between the romanticized version and exploitation of Chiang Mai. It is a story that nobody knows and only you can tell based on your unique experience. We were looking for a few simple things:

1. There is a clear narrative. Your piece tells a story or creates an experience that targets emotions over facts.
2. It is clear that you were composing images, not just taking them. (Rule of Thirds, Use of Perspectives and Angles)
3. Your Digital Story moves beyond a slideshow to show mastery of the form by layering a variety of elements to create a complete piece. (Text, Sound, Video, Images)
4. Your Photo Essay is able to speak for itself and stand alone.  It tells a story or follows a theme.

The results were phenomenal. I often found myself watching with goose bumped skin and tears welling up in my eyes. I know it will be hard for teachers and parents to view all of these amazing tales, so I have listed links below to each class portfolio. Remember that some of the portfolios have more than one page, so click to the next page to see all the videos. Some of the portfolios appear not to have names, but you can find the name of the student if you scroll over the video.

8 SMD
8 GUP
8 ELO
8 GTS
8 RKE
8 WLI
8 MRA
8 JRA

Please take your time and explore these rich tales of our adventure to Chiang Mai. Feel free to leave comments and share with friends and family. There were so many stories to choose from, but I wanted to leave you with a few to get you started: 


I recommend you watch in full screen and with headphones.