Charleston County School of the Arts (SOA) Creative Writing Majors and North Charleston High School English Classes participate in personal story exchange
May 11, 2016
Bringing High School students from a variety backgrounds together to document, write and share one another’s life stories.
In an effort to incite an empathy revolution in our own hometown and, perhaps a little less hyperbolic, continue the fruitful dialogue that began this summer, the SOA Creative Writing Department and the North Charleston High School English Department coordinated Charleston’s very first Narrative 4 Storytelling Exchange Program, a project that brought together 90 students (45 from each school) from a variety of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds and asked them to listen and retell each other’s stories.
SOA friend, one of the Narrative 4 Founders and National Book Award Winning Author of Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann, met with SOA creative writing faculty to tell them about the program during their trip to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards in New York last summer. Reeling from the Walter Scott shooting, in which several SOA students wrote poems of empathy and outrage over the killing which happened just minutes from their campus, faculty members F. Rutledge Hammes and Beth Webb Hart, were eager to find ways for their students to share local stories of injustice and oppression. Narrative 4’s vision (Fearless Hope through Radical Empathy) and their mission (To foster empathy by breaking down barriers and shattering stereotypes through the exchange of stories across the world.) seemed like the ideal fit. McCann told them about the success the organization has had in pairing students from Newtown, Connecticut with students living on the south side of Chicago as well as students on both sides of the ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland.
And then, less than two weeks after meeting with McCann, the unthinkable happened at Emanuel AME Church, and the teachers knew the time for Narrative 4 – to help create a safe space for students from a variety of backgrounds to share the experiences that have shaped their lives – was now. “It is time to extend the conversations that Charleston needs in order to reach across borders and heal our community,” said Hammes.
Hammes then reached out to North Charleston High School English Department Chair, Emily Connor, to coordinate the exchange program here, and Connor, excited about the idea, said she would find a way to make it happen amid their already full curriculums.
After several meetings with teachers from the two schools and a successful Gofundme campaign to cover the costs of bringing in the trainers (English teachers from Swain County, North Carolina who have already conducted a story exchange in their school system), the program kicked off March 10 where North Charleston English students in grades 10 – 12 welcomed SOA creative writing students into their school. This gathering started in the auditorium with the principals of both high schools, Mr. Robert Grimm and Dr. Robert Perrineau, modelling the exchange for the students. Grimm, taking on Perinneau’s identity recounted a night from his childhood that likely saved his life and Perrineau, taking on Grimm’s persona, told the story of how a college business major eager to make money – the first to graduate from high school in his family -was inevitably drawn to the non-lucrative field of education through a School of Teaching professor who was clearly impacting lives.
Following the presentation, students were paired up in three classrooms and after a few ice breakers, shared an object that meant something to them, explaining its significance in their lives. Then the classes went around in a circle, and the partners pretended to be one another and explained the meaning of the objects. After this, students exchanged contact information and prepared for their next meeting, April 6 and 7, where they shared a personal and momentous story from their lives, which their partner then retold to the group – in 1st person – taking on their peer’s identity.
As Emily Connor noted, “Students were eager to know each other through story. At every step students were surprised by their common bonds despite their varied circumstances.”
Of the exchange’s success SOA teacher, Danielle DeTiberus, said, “This project exceeded my expectations because of the immediacy of the impact it had on the students. They were able to not only forge empathetic relationships, but critically self-reflect on preconceived notions they had.”
“It was profound,” said Beth Webb Hart. “I remember one of the students saying after it was over, ‘This is life. This is what has meaning.’ ”
“The plan is to begin with this handful of interested schools and expand from there so that every school in Charleston County will have the opportunity to participate,” said Hammes. “As a teacher, you have high hopes that the next generation of leaders and citizens will be more empathetic than the previous one. Narrative 4 provides a simple and impactful way in which to foster this through the transformative power of story.”
For more information on the Narrative 4 Storytelling Exchange Program, you can visit www.narrative4.com.
About the Charleston County School District
Charleston County School District (CCSD) is the second largest school system in South Carolina representing a unique blend of urban, suburban, and rural schools that span 1,000 square miles along the coast. CCSD serves more than 50,000 students in 86 schools and several specialized programs. With approximately 6,100 employees district-wide, CCSD is the fourth largest employer in the region.
CCSD offers a diverse, expanding portfolio of options and specialized programs, delivered through neighborhood, charter, magnet, IB (international baccalaureate), and Montessori schools, and is divided into three Learning Communities led by associate superintendents. Options include specialized programs in science, engineering and mathematics; liberal arts; music and other creative and performing arts; career and technical preparation programs; and military and other public service enterprises.
