Every student takes classes in school throughout their career. Many complain about how they don’t like the material or the teacher. But some classes stick and make a real impact in someone’s life. That’s how Alex DiStefano’s digital imaging class has impacted students like Jacoby Brown and AJ Brown. 

Before DiStefano got there, the program was contained in the school. Cameras were not given out to kids, and they were not able to take pictures of things that they liked.

“I don’t think they gave out the cameras as freely or anything like that. But they definitely had [a photography program]

here. There was not anything that said, you need to teach A, B, and C. So I kind of… taught photography the way I learned photography,” said DiStefano.

When he arrived in 2024 he took over the graphic design 1 and advanced graphic design, videography 1 and 2, and robotics along with digital imaging 1 and 2 which are all still offered.

DiStefano was the perfect person to take this job. He has been into photography since he was a kid and went on a trip to Costa Rica when he was 15. “I took this photo, and the minute I took the photo, I just saw how cool it came out and how much I loved it. I just took off from there. I kept shooting.”

Jacoby got into the class in 2024, DiStefano’s first year at Morgan. “At first, I fooled around in his class and didn’t take any interest in it. Later into the course it got interesting, so I decided to start listening to him and the outcome was me finding a huge interest and now a big part of my life. That man changed me as a person.”

Jacoby now takes pictures at many of the Morgan sporting events and has his own Instagram page, called coby_photogrphy_, where he posts his work. This class has helped him discover a dream he never knew he had.

“The plan is to go to college for photography and communications, sports journalism, and graphic design related to sports.”

AJ first took the class in 2024 as well, but he had experience in photography beforehand. He was taking pictures outside of school as a hobby. 

“I just took pictures and downloaded them. I thought they were cool. Now looking back on it, they weren’t good photos. They were just… photos. Now, I like taking photos for other people and seeing their reaction instead of just taking them for myself.”

AJ now has a business because of the class and DiStefano, called AB Photos951. “I made a business out of it. I have a portfolio. I have a website, and Destefano helped me with a lot of it. He helped me, like, put the whole building process and editing, trying to figure out what was, like, my style. He helped out a lot with all of it.”

Some classes mean nothing to kids and hold no weight in their future. While in rare cases, classes might stick with a kid

and carry them to something they never thought they would do.

“I tried to teach it how I learned it myself. Which made sense to me. So I hope it makes sense to the students too,” said DiStefano.