What better way to celebrate the commencement of the 2015 student photo contest than with a photo story.

The Kane County Regional Office of Education hosted its second annual High School Photo Exhibition on Tuesday (Dec. 8, 2015), for the first time at Water Street Studios in Batavia, and the event won rave reviews from the more than 150 parents, students, educators, legislators and community members who gathered at the Dock Gallery to honor the art.

Photos of the event, captured by Kane County Regional Office of Education staff photographer Martin Pinnau, are presented below.

Regional Superintendent Patricia Dal Santo and Kane County Chairman Chris Lauzen commended the students throughout the night on the level of talent that was on display.

“Between the Batavia High School string trio, to all the matted artwork, we’re very fortunate to be able to celebrate the fine arts in Kane County,” Dal Santo said. “We also would not have been able to coordinate this event so quickly without the time and effort of our high school photography teachers.”

The space was generously donated and sponsored by Austin Dempsey and Batavia Enterprises.

Of those 402 photos submitted for consideration over the course of the past nine weeks, 102 were printed, matted and displayed at the event.

Nine Kane County high schools were represented:

• Hampshire High School
• Dundee-Crown High School
• Bartlett High School
• Geneva Community High School
• St. Charles North High School
• St. Charles East High School
• Batavia High School
• Aurora Central Catholic High School
• West Aurora High School

Thank you for making the second annual Kane County High School Photo Exhibition a great success. See you in 2016! If you have any questions about the contest, the exhibit or ways of improvement, please contact Ellen Kamps from the Regional Office of Education here.