TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – A student-led club at Northwest Education Services (North Ed) Career Tech put their work on display today to raise awareness of bullying and the importance of speaking up against it in a gallery event called “Stories from a Stranger.”
Created in 2024, the Voices Club is a peer relationship-building group with the goal of improving student relationships at school.
“We want to make every effort to ensure our students have positive relationships and feel that they belong in our school, and the Voices Club is a way to do that with direct student involvement and leadership,” said Laura Gabel Miller, school social worker at Career Tech and the club’s adviser. “When students have those positive relationships and feel included, we know that can have a positive impact on their mental health and academic achievements, and increase their ability to care for others who need extra support. This all contributes to a stronger and healthier school culture.”
The “Stories from a Stranger” gallery event was held at North Ed Career Tech, 880 Parsons Road, Traverse City. Organizers encouraged visitors to tour the exhibit and reflect on the impact of bullying, which can cause lasting damage, leading to anxiety, depression and lower self-worth into adulthood.
The gallery featured stories – shared anonymously by Career Tech students – that were paired with photos taken by students in the Voices Club. The collaborative effort intends to send the message “I see you” to those students who chose to share a vulnerable experience of when they felt excluded.
"Career Tech is full of all different types of people and my experience in the Voices Club showed me that we all have stories to share of times where we have felt excluded in our lives,” said Mailee McQuown, a Northport High School senior in the Writers Studio program at Career Tech. “At a hands-on school, this exhibit is a beautiful and effective way to bring us together for conversation about bullying."
The Voices Club provides a space for peer-to-peer support and an opportunity for students to build awareness of and learn to challenge bias and bullying.
Past projects the Voices Club has organized includes an extensive “Chain of Kindness,” which featured written notes of kindness from students that were posted on two bulletin boards at opposite wings of the Career Tech school building, with the goal of connecting the notes to each other to form a chain. Students also led school-wide discussion-based and active-learning activities to build awareness around challenging bias and bullying. In May 2025, the club’s work helped Career Tech be recognized as a No Place for Hate School by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
Career Tech offers more than 20 state-approved CTE programs to high schoolers from throughout Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska and Leelanau counties. Students are educated in career and technical fields, offering hands-on practical experiences, job shadowing, career exploration and early college opportunities, along with rigorous academic integration. For more information about North Ed Career Tech, visit our website.
Laura Miller, social worker at North Ed Career Tech, second from right, chats with students during the Stories from a Stranger gallery event today at North Ed Career Tech. The gallery featured stories – shared anonymously by Career Tech students – that were paired with photos taken by students in the student-led Voices Club. The collaborative effort intends to send the message “I see you” to those students who chose to share a vulnerable experience of when they felt excluded.
