The was the second wave of the project, after its founder, Adam DelMarcelle, originated it with posters, installations, and projections. We were given a grant to further the project involving Lebanon Valley College students, Lexi Shriner, Daniel Bennett, and myself. We expanded on the project with Days of Making, involving families that were affected by the crisis.

I can honestly say I was not prepared when I started this project for the heart wrenching stories I heard. A loss I could never understand of loved ones, siblings, children, was hard to hear. These stories make you want to cry and fight who ever caused such pain. That's why we worked so hard on this project, continuing it to a colloquium event, involving a whole class at LVC.

So far, two days of making with three families have taken place. These events are designed to give families the ability to express how the crisis affected has them and the life of the person they lost. Students and volunteers worked with those families to facilitate art creation in hopes of applying therapeutic properties as an emotional outlet. The artwork produced during these events will be displayed in other aspects of the What Heroin Sounds Like project.

Supported by Lebanon Valley College, we were asked to create an interactive exhibit as part of their colloquium series with a theme of "desire." In Professor Samuel's Design for Good course, the students designed everything, the structure of the exhibit and every detail.

Together, we designed a room by room experience that the audience walks through a sort of narrative of what someone with a substance abuse disorder goes through. The introduction establishes the facts behind the opioid crisis, leading to room 2 with a living room setting. I was in charge of designing this room and manning it during the event with three other students. The environment is used to break the stigma against people who have substance use disorder. A living room is common ground we all have had at one point, and we used home videos mixed with current news reports to bridge the gap between the user and the next room, which simulates the feeling of being high while on heroin.

I coded the website and included all of the project's components into one place so anyone that is interested in the project can find it. There's also contact information to get ahold of us.