ALUMNI NEWS
FSU Alum’s Project Honors Allegany’s Campobello
BY MIA CROSS M’03
If you’re from Allegany County, then you’re familiar with Allegany High School. But it’s a safe bet to say that you may now also be familiar with Michael Hunter Thompson ‘04. Thompson is a local photographer who undertook the Fade to Blue project honoring the old Allegany High School just prior to its demolition in 2022.
Constructed in 1925, Allegany High School, or “the old Allegany” as it is now known, was the state’s oldest high school in continuous operation. But by 2009, and after several renovations, it became clear that the school needed to be replaced. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new school, now located at the site of the old Sacred Heart Hospital in Cumberland, which opened its doors to students in 2018.
“I decided to propose a photography project about AHS on Sedgwick Street because I heard the news that it was ultimately going to be razed,” said Thompson. “Upon seeing the condition of the gym while looking through the window out of curiosity with my daughters, it triggered an idea to capture the experience of what it was like to go to Allegany through staged photography using former students and staff of all generations as the figures in the images.”
Fade to Blue: A Tribute to Allegany’s Campobello is quite the captivating title for the book. “Allegany High School’s colors are blue and white,” said Thompson. “This project represents a positive sendoff at the end of the building’s story. But we can’t fade to black in the case of Allegany’s Campobello’s story.” So, he decided to fade to blue.
Thompson was able to pull from his FSU degrees in graphic design and art history to produce Fade to Blue, which is a 138-page publication featuring more than 40 staged photos.
“I organized photo shoots throughout my alma mater in an attempt to capture many cross sections of high school life,” said Thompson. “Each image containing multiple generations, playing a part in the experience together.”
After the new school was built, the old building on the site called Campobello sat empty and was subject to significant vandalism over the years. “Although the condition of the school was very poor, the oblivious figures behaved as if school was still in session. It’s how they would want their high school days remembered.”
Thompson’s project was fast-tracked to get finished before the building was torn down, and the onset of COVID didn’t help matters. It was through sheer perseverance that he was able to organize such a massive undertaking. “There were many challenges, but the biggest, especially in the beginning, was executing an in-person large community project at the height of the pandemic.” He continued, “There was also a very tight window of time to plan and capture the photographs.” Thompson, a married father of two, also had to try to carve out time from his full-time job and time with his family to work on this project.
“I had no idea what to expect for the first day, and when people actually started showing up it was a relief and an instant feeling of pressure and anxiety to come through for the Allegany universe.” While this undertaking was huge, it wasn’t all pressure and anxiety. “My favorite part by far was connecting with the community,” he said. “Many connections that I personally made, as well as witnessing the community connect, embrace and experience the project in such a positive way, in what would typically have been a very depressing time.”
His time at FSU also came in handy in the creation of the book. “My graphic design classes at FSU certainly helped. I had a vision of how it should look, and my background and education in design gave me the confidence to design the book and work with a publisher to have it accurately printed.”
Long before attending FSU, Thompson remembers visiting the University’s Fine Arts building with his mother, an area school art teacher completing graduate credits, while she bonded over ceramics with her friend and FSU visual arts professor Jackie Brown. “She would take me along and I would attempt to throw pots, sculpt and basically mess around throughout the hallways.”
Brown recalled, “He would spend time outside the Fine Arts building making various objects ‘fly’ above the blowing grate by tying them with strings to the grate. So, his creativity began very early!”
Years later, Brown would become Thompson’s advisor in the graphic design program in the same building he used to visit as a child. “You get attached to the places in which you make strong connections and grow. The Fine Arts building at FSU is just another example for me.” Thompson continued, “The things I learned within those walls only helped me in the future when creating Fade to Blue.”
Thompson’s work on the Fade to Blue project afforded him the opportunity to give speaking engagements outside of Allegany County in the effort to allow others to model their own community projects after this one. He was also the recipient of a Governor’s Citation.
After the release of the book and exhibition at the Allegany Museum, he has received a lot of career advice. “Folks have been telling me I need to be an event planner, oral history writer or preservationist.” One thing he is sure of is that he will continue to make pictures. “I look at photography in an entirely different way from this experience.”
What’s next for this talented young artist is anybody’s guess, but one thing is for certain – he’s not fading any time soon.
