Twelve-year-old Shannon Bowers holds her camera steady as she focuses on an old house on Jefferson Street, then takes a photo.

She is one of the youths involved in Vested Interest, a photography project that covered the Hillside community of LaGrange during June as part of the Communities in Schools summer enrichment program.

Directed by Shelia Turner, Vested Interest features youths 10 to 12 years old. The project also will include 10 senior citizens from the Hillside area beginning July 8.

“This project is meant to help young and older people to understand how the camera can promote community pride, involvement and sustainability,” Turner said. “We will select 10 seniors residing around the Hillside area to begin taking pictures on July 8.”

The Troup County Archives at 200 Main St. contacted Turner and will take possession of the photos in the near future, Turner said.

Participants presented their pictures at the camp finale Friday afternoon at West Side Magnet School, where about 50 rising fifth- and sixth-graders at the camp were some of the first ones to see their work.

Tristen Dozier, 12, spoke on behalf of the project and displayed its many pictures in a hallway near the school’s gym.

The camp’s finale capped off a monthlong program that took place at West Side at 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays June 1 to June 26.

“We work with rising middle school students and try to get them to work together as teams,” camp director Brenda Kennedy said. “We also try to get them to work on their self-esteem and their behavior.”

In addition to the photo presentation Friday, camp members enjoyed a cookout and listened to an anti-drug rap song that they produced with the help of Her Records, a music label in Atlanta.

“We have all had a lot of fun at this camp,” sixth-grader TJ Williams said. “We learned a lot of stuff. My favorite part was a musical project we did involving drumming. Today we are just celebrating everything we did at the camp.”

Sixth-grader Red Banks said his favorite part of the camp was learning about golfer Tiger Woods and what made him a success.

“There are some good values that Tiger Woods has,” Banks said. “Plus it was cool to study about his life. … We are going to do some ballroom dancing and drumming today.”

The annual camp was funded by the Department of Family and Children Services and United Way of West Georgia.

Kenneth Thompson can be reached at kethompson@lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 228.