When walking down the halls of ACC’s main building, you find beautifully pictured people and places.

You might wonder why they are there. The answer is simple: ACC cares about and displays diversity within our community.

These people are photographed to capture their character and personalities. The adults photographed are actual people within the ACC community and are employees or past employees.

Each has a fascinating story.

Arapahoe Community College has recently adopted the Milestone Project. This involves portraits of people of different cultures being put in the spotlight, showing their success stories.

Both the first and second floor show these people that have worked hard to get to where they are now.

The purpose of this project is to highlight the diversity in the Littleton community, said Courtney Loehfelm, director of the ACC Foundation.

Each person photographed is from another country and has moved here. The success they have come into is amazing.

ACC inherited this project in 2006. The founders and photographers of the project, Dr. Richard Steckel and Michele Steckel, approached the school and wanted to get the project out to the public. They are from Littleton, and have been part of the community for a long time.

They started this project over in the East. They wanted to show how these children and people of different races and cultures could be seen as similar to everyone else.

They pictured kids first with their parents, taking their first steps, losing their first teeth, and so much more. The point was to show the common joy that people experience during these first moments.

“In a world awash with intolerance, ethno-linguistic rivalries, racism, fundamentalism and terrorism, we believe [the Milestones Project’s] call ‘to live together with one another in peace as good neighbors’ could not be more timely.”
—Dr. Noel J. Brown, President and CEO, Friends of the United Nations

This soon led the Steckels back to Littleton, where they started photographing people of different cultures, ethnicities and religions.

Their goal is simple: to tremendously reduce the amount of hate people have towards people that do not look like them.

At first ACC had just the photos on the second floor of the main building. As of last year, they added the newer photos to the first floor. They also are hoping to get more photos of the children for ACC’s Child Development Center.

The majority of the people photographed in the portraits on the first floor are employees, and all of them are immigrants. Others are from all over the world. The point of just shooting the faces is to show that even though these people look different, we are all the same.

“The photographers wanted to capture people who have come to Littleton from somewhere else,” Loehfelm said.

The photos have been up since 2006, and they aren’t going anywhere. The school will pay to repair the photos and plan on having them for as long as possible.

ACC and the Milestones Project have been in the works of transitioning rights to the project for the last two years. Richard Steckel wanted to give the school all the rights to the project when he and his wife retire.

Sadly, he passed away unexpectedly in June this year. This project was his pride and joy for the last 10 years.

His wife, Michele, now leads the project.

Richard Steckel wrote many books about this project that he and his wife started more than 10 years ago. On the Milestones Project’s website, they state that they want to “safeguard our planet from hatred and war.” (milestonesproject.com) This is the best way to say what the purpose of this project is all about.

The Milestones Project has been featured all over the world. These are two world renown photographers.

Even Denver International Airport has participated. It featured the photographic exhibit called Global Colorado: We’re all here in 2014.

This project started with the Steckels traveling to other countries and just taking pictures of kids during monumental firsts. (milestonesproject.com)

It is all about pursuing others to stop hate between different cultures, religions, and ethnicities.

More information on what they stand for as a non-profit organization can be found on their website: www.milestonesproject.com