Press releases are posted on Independent.com as a free community service.
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.