When one thinks of a home, one thinks of many things. Maybe it’s the place where your pet pounces on you every day when you enter the door. Maybe it’s a warm fireplace on a cold winter’s night. Or maybe it’s a comfy chair where you binge on the latest episodes of a Netflix series. Whatever the case may be, we all have a place that makes us feel at home, safe and secure.

Photography students at LHS have also found a place they feel at home in Angelia Perkins photography room.

“I think it’s just a comfortable environment”  Perkins said “I think it’s an environment that’s accepting of a lot of different types of people.”

Students in photography often times arrive at the classroom early in the morning and may leave late at night, putting in long hours to get their work done.

“One time I actually stayed up until one o’clock in the morning trying to get stuff done” Perkins said “It depends on what our deadlines are, but if students are working I’ll put in as much time as I need to help them out.”

Considering how long students spend their time in the photography room, it naturally follows that they would need the basic amenities that one would find in a home.

“We have a microwave in here, we have a refrigerator,” Perkins said “a lot of times they’re eating lunch in here or they’re eating breakfast in here.”

Often times what makes a space a home is not necessarily the cleanliness or organization of the environment, like in a classroom, but a certain messiness that makes the space familiar.

“It’s always a mess but it’s like a home mess, you feel home because everything doesn’t really have a place” senior Allie Fischer said “There’s always a bunch of shrinky dink toys and miscellaneous things that we mess with throughout the day which makes it feel like a home.”

In Perkins’ room, there are some objects, even some especially strange ones, that make it one of a kind.

“Once I thought there was a good looking guy in a garage sale but it was a mannequin so I ended up buying him” Perkins said “Somebody put him in Mrs.Tholen’s closet and freaked her out and so now he’s just up there overlooking everything.”

The uniqueness and quirkiness of the room, according to many, not just makes it comfortable but also makes it a space that fosters creativity.

“Sometimes other places are very strict and very sterile” Perkins said “Sometimes I’ll have students that come in and they’re not even coming into work, but they’re just like “I just need to stand in your room just for a little bit before I go back to my other class” because they just need to feel the creativity.”

However, the most important reason why students have found a second home in Perkins’ room is that it provides a safe space for individual expression and is an environment that is based on mutual respect.

“I think that having a space that is a safe space and having a space where people are open to work on something that is not so censored and really being able to put a part of them into it  makes that an environment where people want to come” Perkins said “I think it [also] has a lot to do with respect, just respecting people as people and not just students.”

Explore Perkins’ Room