The human behind Humans of King’s College

Ever since Brandon Stanton’s project Humans of New York took off worldwide, all kinds of pages and blogs following the same style have popped up across the globe. As it turns out, there’s one here at King’s as well.
Humans of King’s College, a Facebook page started by first year journalism student Fiona Fox, is picking up traction. Having only existed for about one month so far, the page has over 200 likes.
Fox is from Kingston, Ontario. She decided that King’s was the right fit for her because of its journalism program with a combined honours option, the general community, and small classes that King’s offers.
She believes that the community at King’s would benefit from a project like this, which is in part why she started the Facebook page.
“I’ve always enjoyed the Humans of New York page and I thought it would be neat if we replicated it at King’s”, Fox said,“I think it creates a sense of community and people can just get to know each other, especially the first years who aren’t as familiar with the campus. It’s good for them to understand who people are.”
Fox has  jumped right into running this page, which she currently posts to on her own. She does all of the interviews, the photography, and the posting. She is currently unsure if she would take on someone to work with.
“I don’t think a lot of people know it’s me doing it. A couple of friends say they’d help me,” she said.
Fox took a profile picture and cover photo, and then went out to find her first featured person from King’s. Fox’s method for finding people from King’s to feature on the page is quite simple. When approaching someone, she asks if they have a minute, takes their picture, and then asks an open-ended question or if they have any personal wisdom to share. She then uploads the photo with the quote to the page.
When asked why she thinks a page like Humans of King’s College is important, Fox said:
“It gives people a chance to identify themselves at King’s. I think it’s an important outlet for people to just talk about who they are. Most people are really enthusiastic about the initiative. I think they like the idea… I hope they like the idea.”
The King’s community is not the only one benefiting from the project. Fox herself is also learning from the process.
“I think it’s just a great way to meet new people. I’ve learned to be a better photographer too. I think a big thing is that I really learned to listen to other people and what their opinions and beliefs are, because I think that’s really how you get to know them and it’s really special because you find that everyone is so unique.”