Goddard’s propensity to gather and tell powerful stories was never more evident than in the creative cross-programmatic project, True Stories: Adventures in Nonfiction Audio Storytelling. This endeavor was birthed from a venture (the Story + Media Lab) conceptualized by Karen Werner (UGP Faculty) in collaboration with Jackie Batten (WGDR Training Coordinator).
Karen and Jackie facilitated a semester-long, dual-enrollment program at Goddard in Plainfield, available to local high school students who received both high school and college credit with tuition funds provided the State of Vermont.
In addition to technical skill building, students immersed themselves in the art of telling true stories through sound, practicing deep listening, various forms of audio storytelling, and how to give and receive meaningful feedback with peers.
The course was quite successful and a number of students requested the opportunity to continue if it was offered again. This intergenerational community collaboration and storytelling forum created a unique opportunity for participants to witness, write, and share stories. It was an opportunity for teaching and learning, as well as perpetuating Goddard’s conversation in the world as articulated through youth who learned through this transformational experience how important their role can be in witnessing and telling stories.
You can hear the final, live broadcast of True Stories by visiting this link, or by playing the recordings below.
An example one individual’s broadcast from True Stories:
Note: an abridgment of this story appears in the article, “Is Activism Dead?” in the Clockworks Fall/Winter 2015 issue on page 10.
