Using the documentary arts, students explored and compared the five neighborhoods that make up their school district. They learned about citizenship, history, and geography, and they began to see their environments and themselves in new ways. The students-African American, European American, South Indian, and Latino-reflected the diversity of the neighborhoods they explored.

During spring 2000, students met and talked with neighborhood residents who shared information about the history, people, and characteristics of their neighborhoods. Among them was Samuel Jones, the grandson of George Wall, after whom Walltown was named, who told a lively story about his family's life in Durham before desegregation.

This year, audio recording was introduced to the young documentarians. Students added this role to their exploration of each of the neighborhoods as photographers, writers, artists, and artifact collectors. Throughout the project, students wrote essays, recounting and reflecting on guest speakers' stories and their own photographs, drawings, and audio recordings. Coupling images and words, the students created individual scrapbooks about the neighborhoods. Students also collaborated on a large-scale mural made of photo-collages; it represents each neighborhood and will be permanently installed at the school. The project concluded with a generous meal and a slide show of the students' photographs and writings for community members, families, and friends.

Four classrooms participated in the Neighborhoods Project this year. Classroom teachers Renae Dickerson, Yvonne Green, Tonia Rowe, Lisa Beahm, and Barbara Bevan worked closely with visual arts educator Rosey Truong from CDS to lead the project.