Vista High School English students will forever have their stories preserved in the Library of Congress. That's because they took advantage of the fact that StoryCorps stopped by in Yuma and recorded their personal stories on Friday, Nov. 22, 2019.
“I have been using StoryCorps in my classroom for several years,” said VHS English teacher Hilary Brown. “I love using life story interviews as a way to get students ready to write personal narratives. When I found out that StoryCorp's mobile tour was stopping in Yuma, I felt like the universe was lining up just for my students! I signed up for three time slots right away.”
The students have been practicing storytelling through interviews as part of a narrative unit in class. Brown took 20 students to the Art Center, where they met up with the StoryCorps team, who were collecting and archiving stories across the country.
Eight students recorded interviews inside the StoryCorps booth. Their stories will be archived in the Library of Congress and included in a special collection celebrating Latino voices. The other 12 students recorded interviews on the StoryCorps app, where their work will also be archived.
StoryCorps’ mission, according to the organization’s website, is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.
