I got to spend a summer while in medical school not doing research, hanging out with kids and taking pictures -- something I didn't get to do while I was studying.

It's really hard to walk into any social-service agency as an outsider, especially when working with kids.

I got to take a lot of pictures of them hanging out and being themselves.

For me it was this idea that there was something really important to be gained just by hanging out with the kids and getting to know them ... and for them to get to know other people who live different lives.

We'll be able to have meeting spaces, a computer lab and a library for research. Right now I have over 100 books that people have donated in my attic because there's nowhere else to store them.

'Middle school' is used as shorthand for a time when things change. It's a time a lot of kids feel like they don't even have one good friend.