The Fresh Fotos project is a program that began seven years ago for ISU freshmen who are interested in photography and want to document their freshman experience in a different way. This year’s photo gallery is now on display at the Memorial Union.

There’s a little bit of everything for every type of student at Iowa State University, whether it be studying chemistry, playing a sport or documenting your freshman year to showcase to other students.

To become part of the program, students must apply and go through an interview process. At the end of this process, 12 students are chosen to visually document their first year of college.

According to Megan Koehn, sophomore in dietetics, incoming students mentioned that they all see campus in a different way. She believes this helped the interviewees decide which 12 freshmen to pick.

Students are allowed to use their own cameras but the Student Activities Center lends out basic digital cameras for each individual to use throughout the year.

“They didn’t really give us any guidelines,” said Koehn, “They just kind of set us loose.”

With the exception of meeting every other week to discuss the photos they had taken, they were only required to take up to 12 photos each month. Students were allowed to do almost anything they wanted for the project.

“I really enjoyed the freedom we had to take pictures of whatever we wanted,” said Emily Hall, sophomore in business. “It allowed us all to truly share our freshman experience.”

Each individual already took pictures as a hobby or enjoyed photography, which led them to apply for the program.

“I would wholeheartedly recommend this to any freshman who enjoys photography,” said Elizabeth Berger, sophomore in open option. “It’s a great way to learn more about photography, meet other freshmen and hear the stories associated with their pictures throughout their first year in college.”

Each year, the Fresh Fotos members’ pictures are displayed in the Memorial Union Gallery the next fall. The project directors choose five photos from each student to put in the exhibit.

The students’ photos are currently on display at the ISU Memorial Union until Oct. 19. The entire collection of pictures from fall 2009 to spring 2014 are available online at the Student Activities Center’s website.