Jake Clements, a 51ÁÔÆæ English major, worked with the Milwaukee Parks Foundation to produce a video sharing the history of the foundation\u2019s new home, the Martin Luther King Community Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sara Issa, a 51ÁÔÆæ linguistics doctoral student, brought creativity and community to residents at the Ovation Chai Point senior living center through cross-cultural conversations and lessons on making origami.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ken Bartelt, a doctoral student in history, began a project to help the Beckum-Stapleton Little League, the oldest area league focusing primarily on African American youth, gather oral histories and develop signage about its history for its ball fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of these students are among the 2022-2023 fellows in the Story Experience Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The program, which includes 51ÁÔÆæ and Marquette students, builds collaborations with communities and organizations across the city to shape and share stories, according to Anne Basting, professor of English and director of 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s Center for 21st Century Studies, which houses the project. She and Sarah Wadsworth, English professor and director of the university press at Marquette, are the lead instructors for the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students use a variety of techniques \u2013 writing, oral history interviews, story circles, podcasts and videos \u2013to help community members share their stories. Each project includes a mentor from the community organization, who alongside community members works with the Project fellows to design projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Wisconsin Humanities Council and the President\u2019s and Chancellor\u2019s Challenge Award support the Story Experience Project. (The President\u2019s and Chancellor\u2019s Challenge Award is a collaborative effort of Marquette President Mike Lovell and 51ÁÔÆæ Chancellor Mark Mone.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The students have a two-semester experiential learning opportunity \u2013developing communications, research, archiving and other skills while building relationships with community members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year\u2019s Story Experience Projects were featured at an event May 12 at Milwaukee\u2019s Turner Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a great experience,\u201d said Donna Robinson, a 51ÁÔÆæ student who is working toward a certificate in applied gerontology. She worked with residents at Manor Pointe Senior Living to come up with stories to share on different topics through a Storytellers Studio. Residents wrote down their stories, presented them verbally, and even created poetry. The results are being compiled in a book for all residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Issa enjoyed working with the seniors at Chai Point, sharing stories and creating with origami.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI liked building relationships with them and becoming part of a community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bartelt, who did his master\u2019s thesis on the Negro Leagues in Milwaukee, had the opportunity to meet and interview James Beckum, now in his 90s, who is the founder of the Beckum-Stapleton Little League. Bartelt became so immersed in the project that he\u2019ll be coaching a team of 11- and 12-yearolds in the league this summer. He\u2019s continuing the project, and the experiences he had will eventually become part of his doctoral thesis on the intersection of sports and race, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the projects are all different, they are connected by the human passion for telling stories to connect and thrive, Basting said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTelling stories helps us connect with the past, understand the present and imagine the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A goal for the project is to help with recruitment, Basting said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe biggest dream is for this to build it into an annual MKE Story Festival with an archive of Milwaukee story projects,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Story Experience course for 2023-24 is open for application on both campuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Kathy Quirk, University Relations<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jake Clements, a 51ÁÔÆæ English major, worked with the Milwaukee Parks Foundation to produce a video sharing the history of the foundation\u2019s new home, the Martin Luther King Community Center. Sara Issa, a 51ÁÔÆæ linguistics doctoral student, brought creativity and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1483,"featured_media":22953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[1756],"tags":[1856],"class_list":["post-22944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus-2023","tag-june"],"yoast_head":"\n