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North Shore Country Day welcomed alum James Robinson ’15 back to campus as the 2026 Harold Hines Visiting Fellow, marking a full-circle moment for the Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, author and disability advocate.

James spent the day engaging with students across divisions, beginning with a morning presentation for fourth through 12th graders and continuing with classroom conversations that invited students to think deeply about storytelling, empathy and what it means to truly connect with others.

During the morning session, James shared his journey as a storyteller and reflected on how personal experience can become a powerful tool for change. A video producer for The New York Times and the author of the illustrated memoir “Whale Eyes,” he spoke about his work exploring disability, difference and representation in media.

Released to widespread critical acclaim, “Whale Eyes” has been recognized with two awards from the American Library Association: the Schneider Family Book Award and an Odyssey Honor Audiobook. The book was also named a finalist for the Libby Book Awards and the Audie Audiobook Awards and was selected as a best book of 2025 by New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, NPR, Booklist and School Library Journal.

Central to his talk was a concept he calls “out-trigue,” the discomfort people sometimes feel when encountering difference. Rather than avoiding that feeling, James encouraged students to lean into it, using curiosity and storytelling as pathways to understanding and connection.

“What for you is a few seconds of discomfort,” he explained, “for someone else is just one in a lifetime of little moments that have made them feel like they're hundreds of meters below the surface, even though they're really just standing a few feet in front of you, waiting to connect.”

Drawing from his own experience living with strabismus, a visual disability that causes his eyes to alternate focus and turn outward, James shared clips from his short film “Whale Eyes,” published by The New York Times in 2021. The film invites viewers to experience the world through his perspective and challenges audiences to reconsider assumptions about disability.

“I don’t have a problem with the way that I see,” James told students. “My only problem is with the way that I’m seen.”

James also discussed his approach to storytelling — finding precise moments, flipping familiar narratives and using form creatively to deepen understanding. In “Whale Eyes,” that meant using video to replicate how his vision shifts. In his memoir, it meant designing pages that readers must twist, turn and work through to experience the frustration and perseverance that shaped his early relationship with reading.

Throughout the presentation and the Q&A that followed, James emphasized the responsibility each person has to help others care — whether through art, advocacy or everyday interactions. He encouraged students to approach difference with patience, empathy and openness, reminding them that meaningful connections often exist just beyond moments of discomfort.

“I only have one job, and that is to get people to care,” James said. “And I don’t believe it’s actually just my job. I believe it’s your job too.”

Established in 1986 in memory of longtime trustee and former parent Harold H. Hines Jr., the Harold Hines Visiting Fellowship brings distinguished individuals to campus who exemplify North Shore’s motto, “Live and Serve,” with an emphasis on ethical leadership and civic responsibility.