“Second to None; The Story of Stanton Elementary” is a photojournalistic presentation by Clary Estes. The story shares the emotionally charged moments captured during her yearlong examination of Stanton Elementary School. Deemed a ‘turn around’ school in Washington DC’s Anacostia neighborhood, Stanton was the second worst performing school in the district three years ago. To remedy this problem, a very large majority of the staff was fired and replaced with new enthusiastic teachers who have worked to get the students up to grade level and turn the school around. The school has been a testing ground for the DC Scholars program, a program that is running in both DC and Philadelphia. Throughout the project it becomes more and more clear that the teachers are committed and invested in their students who are very bright and have a great deal of potential. It is not only the school that is changing; it is the surrounding community.

Clary Estes