Facebook page tells ‘Human’ stories at Rancho Bernardo High

What started just two months ago as a photo project to chronicle student life at Rancho Bernardo High School took the national stage last week.

Salwa Khan, the 17-year-old editor of the new Facebook page “Humans of RBHS,” appeared on HuffPost Live on Friday morning with photographer Brandon Stanton, whose world-renowned photo-blog, Humans of New York, was Khan’s inspiration.

Since she began publishing photos and often heartbreaking autobiographies of her fellow students as well as teachers in August, the page has drawn nearly 1,600 followers and opened a conversation on campus about once-taboo subjects like rape, mental illness and racism.

Khan, the school’s yearbook editor who someday wants to be a clinical psychologist, said she based her Facebook and Instagram accounts on Stanton’s 5-year-old blog, which has more than 15 million followers. His second book of collected stories was published this month and as part of his HuffPost interview about the book, Khan was invited to ask him questions and share stories about Humans of RBHS. He praised her work and the emotional depth of her photos.

As with Humans of New York, the entries on the RBHS page are brief stories and portraits with no names. To ensure anonymity, some subjects’ stories run without a photo at their request.

In one post, a girl smiles sweetly in a photographed accompanied by her story about a severe stress-related medical condition — kicked off by her mother’s death — that affects her mobility, hearing and vision. In another, a Mexico-born vice principal urges students to break free of the repressive machismo culture he grew up in (“I am here to tell you there is nothing wrong with showing emotion. There is nothing wrong with asking for help”).

In a pair of touching posts, a student details his beloved father’s death last fall after he collapsed from a stroke at a backyard barbecue. An only child, he said he will stay in town for college to be with his mother (“I’ve learned to value the time I have with people I love because they’re here one second, and gone the next”).

And the American-born son of a Palestinian immigrant talked about depression he suffered in middle school from continuous anti-Muslim taunting (“Sticks and stones will eventually hurt your bones, no matter how thick your skin is”).

There are also posts from a gay teen battling anorexia, a senior at her fourth high school in four years but still determined to graduate and a teen who once considered suicide. The most-read post was published last week, when a girl described how she was once raped. Alarmed school officials worked with Khan to extend counseling services to the young woman, whose post was later removed at her request.

Khan — who is known on campus as “the girl with the white camera” — said she’s overwhelmed by the impact the page has had on campus and elsewhere (she said students at Del Norte and La Costa Canyon high schools are now planning Humans pages).

“People praise me but I’m just the listener, the messenger,” she said. “It’s the people who deserve the attention. Everyone has hidden stories and wild thoughts. Parents might just assume we’re hormonal teens, but we really have profound, mature thoughts.”

Khan’s mentor on campus, AP biology teacher Lori Brickley, described Khan as “one of the most incredible kids I have met in 34 years of teaching.”

“She’s very introspective but she’s light, she’s bright and beautiful,” Brickley said. “She has this unique ability to say what she feels and cut to the heart of whatever she sees. Her thought processes are like her pictures. What she sees in people and through her lens is different from what the rest of the world sees.”

Brickley said that since Humans of RBHS debuted, the campus climate has changed. Students are reading the posts and now treating each other with more kindness and understanding.

“What she’s done single-handedly is brought our school together,” Brickley said. “It feels different now on campus right now. It feels like these teenagers care about each other.”

Born in Texas to immigrant parents from Bangladesh, Khan arrived at Rancho Bernardo High last year after her father’s engineering job brought the family to Carmel Mountain Ranch. She bought her first camera two years ago and joined the yearbook staff as a junior.

Khan said she discovered Humans of New York three years ago and was fascinated by the often-extraordinary stories of the seemingly ordinary people in Stanton’s photographs.

“I have read every story he’s done two or three times, I own both of his books and I’m the annoying friend who re-posts every single story I like on Facebook,” she said.

A year ago last week, she created the “Humans of RBHS” Facebook page, but as a new student she lacked the confidence and network of friends to fill the page, so it sat dormant for 10 months.

Then this past summer, she and a friend started a photography business, shooting senior portraits at outdoor locations. She became known for her camera skills and as a campus leader. She was chosen as one of the school’s 13 senior student ambassadors.

Armed with confidence and her camera, she began interviewing and photographing students on the first day of school in August. Most interviewees were wary (including a freshman who suspected it was a prank to photograph him being dumped in a trashcan). But as people began sharing the posts on social media, Khan — and her assistant Alex Hmitti, 15 — became a familiar presence on campus.

She spends about nine hours a week doing interviews, transcribing recorded notes and taking and editing photos for the page (which also features candid on-campus shots of student activities and sports). Hmitti, who plans to take over the page when Khan graduates next year, said he was attracted to the page’s concept, Khan’s artful photography and her interviewing style.

“She makes everyone feel really comfortable because they know she won’t judge them,” Hmitti said. “She’s got this open personality and she understands people.”

He said he’s seen a transformation on campus since the page debuted. The people who tell their stories seem relieved to have their secrets out and the cliques that usually define a high school campus community are dissolving.

“It’s great how the school has come together since this started,” he said. “People from different groups are sharing their stories and pouring out so much love to each others that it feels a lot less divided.”

The page hasn’t been without controversy. Junior Sam Wagner said she has heard friends criticize the page because they feel it caters only to the popular crowd. But as the child of immigrant parents, Khan said she has gone out of her way to balance the stories of the school’s extroverts with the quieter people who are rarely noticed.

“As a yearbook editor, I’m well aware of the kids who have 20 pages of reference next to their names in the index. I wanted to start this page to bring some attention to those people who see themselves as outcasts and don’t have a voice.”

One girl, whose story and photo appeared Oct. 15, said she shared her story about depression and cutting to help others.

“‘People with smiling depression feel worthless inside but choose not to show it because of the fear of being judged,” she said. “I know many people at RB who go through incredibly difficult things and aren’t vocal and are scared to ask for help ... I needed someone who would understand what I was going through so now I want to do the same for others.”

Pam Kragen writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.