final project idea, refined

So I would still like to do my project on the transgendered student who lives across from me. I don't know exactly what details you want on it that I didn't include last time; I basically addressed why it's journalistically relevant and what I would like to cover. I guess I'll flesh out my idea here.

I think I'd go at it like a bio, without trying to complicate it by broadening it out to anything like "transgendered people in NH" or "gay, lesbian, and transgendered." I think it will have more impact if I just focus on her story, and hopefully her story will comment on the more general implications. So it would be a bio. This would cover (if possible, if she agrees) her young life (I guess coming to question her gender identity), when she decided to make herself into a girl (how that came about, the qualms she had, the different influences on this decision), and life since changing (reactions, difficulties, relationships). I think this last part would be the bulk of the project. I would like this to be described in a mix of audio and video, probably sometimes audio transcribed over video (just of her walking around in day to day life, so it's not all just her sitting in a house). Pictures that would be good: obviously portraits of her, pictures of her in her room/other interesting parts of life. I don't know if it would be an invasion of privacy/inappropriate/unethical to take pictures of her as a guy "transforming" into a woman. I guess if she agreed and was totally fine with it, it would be okay.
It would be amazing if I could also incorporate interviews with people close to her (family, friends, roommates).
However, the one big issue with this story is that I don't really know her at all. I basically have just seen her going to and from the bus stops, and we smile and say hi, but I don't even know her name. So I don't know how realistic this story really is. I have no idea how I would approach her or if she would agree. I think she could tell an important story, I just would completely understand if she didn't want to, which makes me hesitant to even ask. I definitely need a conference, Sandy.