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This feature story originally appeared on WKCD.org in August 2010. At the time, the author, Y-Press alumna Jordan Denari, was entering her sophomore year at George Washington University. Denari graduated this May from George Washington University's School of Foreign Service, with a major in Culture and Politics. She has been featured in the news media for her work in Muslim-Christian relations and inter-religious dialogue and written commentary for the Washington Post, Indiapaolis Star, and America.

by Jordan Denari

First posted August 25, 2010; re-posted May 29, 2013

INDIANAPOLIS, IN—My childhood summers were spent learning, but not in the traditional way done in school. Rather than studying grammar rules or practicing math problems, I read books, played sports and board games, and visited new places. These activities expanded my mind and encouraged me to think critically, but in a way completely different than in school. Summer was a break from the classroom, but I didn’t stop learning, and I had a whole lot of fun.

This past summer, I was a senior counselor at City Stories, a two-week storytelling camp for low-income nine- and ten-year-olds in Indianapolis. The camp was co-created by Y-Press, a youth-media organization, and Second Story, a creative writing project, and took place at two locations in Indianapolis. Through journalism and poetry, the campers told the stories of people and places in their communities.

Y-Press youth journalists, ages 10 to 19, guided the creation of audio-slideshows, multi-media pieces that incorporate the voices of those they interviewed, the sounds of their environment, and photos. In teams, the campers and Y-Press counselors sought out potential interview subjects, wrote questions, conducted interviews, took photos, recorded audio, created a story-line, and organized the photos and audio. They told the stories of a tattoo artist, a pawn shop owner, a butcher working at the state’s largest Mexican grocery store, and eight others whose work defines and influences the community. One-on-one with counselors, the campers also wrote poetry or short stories about the places where these people worked, using vivid details to describe what they had seen.

The goal of our camp was to provide the kids with the kind of summer that I had—filled with unconventional learning that encouraged critical thinking in a fun way. Our camp fostered this critical thinking in a number of ways—not just for campers, but for counselors, too.

Building and using new media skills

Y-Press counselors on the importance of summer learning Y-Press counselors on what they learned as teachers SEE ALSO Audio slideshows by City Stories campers

In order to create the audio-slideshows, the campers would be collecting sounds and taking photographs to help describe their interviewee’s story. Throughout the first few days of camp, we taught them photography and sound collection skills, not only on the technical side, but also the more subjective matters like photo composition and sound types. We hoped the campers would draw on these skills later, when they went into the field for their interviews.

During the photography workshop, led by a photojournalist from our local newspaper, the campers learned how to take different shots: a photo from ground level; a photo of hands working; a photo using a mirror or window to create reflection. To practice these skills, the kids went out on a scavenger hunt for photos, then together critiqued the photos they brought back.

The following week, campers began to apply these photography skills as they went out into the field for their interviews. “I’ll get some pictures of his hands making the pizza,” said Anaiya, at an interview at a pizza shop. Later, at a thrift store, she demonstrated how she was using a mirror to reflect an image in her shot. She had retained her new understanding of photography and consciously applied it to new situations.

Learning to question

One aspect of journalism that proved challenging for our campers was asking good questions. This skill is not often developed in classrooms, so we spent a lot of time teaching kids how to develop deep, open-ended questions that would encourage interviewees to give detail-rich answers.

We tried to teach by asking questions ourselves. For example, rather than saying, “A question that can be answered by ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is bad,” we’d pose a yes/no question and ask them why or why not that question would be good to ask in an interview. Quickly the campers realized that yes/no questions do not yield long, interesting responses. Because they had come to that conclusion themselves, they remembered it more clearly than if we had just lectured to them.

“The first kind of questions they’d ask would be very simple questions, like, ‘Are you busy here?’ or ‘What do you sell here?’” observed Min, 18, a counselor. But as campers practiced, their questions grew in depth. “Just yesterday, we wrote questions for Utterback’s fasteners and the questions became more of, ‘What would the world be like without fasteners?’ and ‘How important is your store to the community?’ There’s a huge change in those kind of questions.”

Finding the angle

The campers also learned to think about their “angle,” the theme around which their stories revolve. Journalists determine their angle before the interview and it shapes the questions they ask, but they often tweak it afterward if an interviewee’s answers go in a different direction. Practicing this skill gave the campers another chance to think critically about what makes a story interesting.

For example, one group interviewed a retiree, Big Sam, who refurbishes old cars. Going into the interview, the campers were planning to simply focus on his body shop and its contribution to the ocmmunity. But after the interview, their angle changed. Big Sam had spent a lot of time talking about one car in particular, on which he had painted an image of God. He talked about how God had given him the ability to work with his hands, and how he wanted to use that gift to fix up old cars and make them beautiful. The campers found this story much deeper and more interesting than their original angle, so they chose to focus their audio-slideshow on it instead.

Next, they had to organize the audio clips in a sequence that would make sense to the listener. They discussed and mapped out the story-line: Big Sam introducing himself, why he was fixing up old cars, followed by his description of how and why he fixed up a particular car and put an image of God on the back. The counselors helped guide the conversation, but the decisions about the story-line were ultimately made by the campers.

These skills—knowing how to organize a piece thematically, keeping it focused, orderly, and interesting—have many applications in the classroom. When these campers next have to write an essay, for example, they will probably think about the “angle” of their paper and how to make their statements fit under that theme.

Practicing social skills

Beyond the creation of the audio slideshows and poems, our program also focused on developing campers’ social skills. Because the kids would be making initial contact with potential interviewees (with counselors there as back-up), they had to be able to eloquently explain who they were and what they were doing.

Counselors and campers discussed ahead of time what information would be important for the interviewees to know. We did not give the kids a script; instead, counselors and campers generated it together, to give campers more responsibility and show that we trusted their judgment.

Many campers seemed unconfident when talking to adults they did not know, and their handshakes were especially weak. So we also practiced social skills like handshakes, looking someone in the eye, and not twirling your hair or standing on one leg. Along with my fellow counselor, Warren, 19, I always made sure that our campers practiced a firm handshake before they spoke to a potential interviewee.

Working in small groups also allowed campers the opportunities to share equipment, collaborate on a project, and learn to listen to others’ ideas. Sometimes, we noticed, a camper would dominate the conversation or be unwilling to listen to others’ thoughts. Warren was among many counselors who used these kinds of situations to mentor and guide the younger campers. Before this camp job, he “never gave life speeches,” said Warren, laughing. But like many of us, he learned.

One day, for example, Warren saw Isaias, 10, walk off because he thought another camper was making fun of him and bossing him around. “You can’t pay attention to what other people say,” Warren told him, “because everyone’s gonna have something bad to say.” Despite what others might think, he told Isaias, he should express his thoughts, because in the end that benefits the whole group.  

The ability to work with others and converse with adults will not only be helpful for these children in the classroom, but it could also improve their chances for employment later on. As for counselors, the experience of guiding young campers also builds useful skills for many years ahead.

Examining assumptions

In order to report on their community in a fair and open-minded way, the young journalists (campers and counselors alike) had to look at interviewees and communities without preconceived notions. We did not realize until late into our first camp how crucial it would be to emphasize this open-minded attitude.

One afternoon, some of the campers began making racist and stereotypical comments about people of Asian descent. Many counselors were not sure how to handle this, so we sought advice from Lynn, the Y-Press director. Rather than calling the kids out publicly or privately about their comments, we decided to schedule an activity into our camp agenda. In it, we had the campers respond to stereotypical statements ranging in from “only tall people can play basketball” to “all Asians are bad drivers” to “all homeless people are lazy.” The kids seemed to understand the point of the activity--that it is wrong to assume something about someone based on their physical appearance, financial situation, religious beliefs, and the like. Together, counselors and campers discussed their experiences of being stereotyped by others. This helped to drive home the idea that stereotyping others is not only wrong but also hurtful.

We quickly saw the fruits of this activity. One of our campers, who had been the first to make stereotypical statements, began to catch himself or apologize after making an inappropriate comment. It was clear that he was thinking about what he said and how it made others feel.

My perceptions, too, were challenged. For over ten years I had lived less than a mile from one of the communities where we ran camp, yet many people from my neighborhood had never set foot in it. As we took our campers into the community to ask good questions of the people who lived there, and to gather their rich and interesting stories, the other counselors and I too were learning a great deal.

By passing along journalism skills to younger children, we hoped we were doing more than providing a summer activity and halting their summer learning slide. We also tried to foster greater understanding among the diverse people who make up our Indianapolis community. As we opened eyes and opened ears, I believe, we were not just “getting the story.” We were also opening minds.