Do you feel like people see you differently than you are? Storytelling Club is a chance to share your personal experiences. Whether they be happy, sad, or hilarious, Storytelling Club wants to hear them.

The goal of Storytelling Club, since it began late in the 2016/17 school year, has been to create empathy and understanding among students who may not normally interact, or may not normally see each other as much more than a stereotype.

Stories can be prepared long in advance or thought up completely last minute. Typically, students will be given a topic to focus on for the stories they will be sharing, such as “New Beginnings”, or “Fun Times.”

One of the goals of Storytelling is to assist in the advancement of students’ public speaking and personal story-sharing skills so that in the future they are able to better communicate and better share their personal experiences.

Students who choose to share stories within the small club environment are welcome to do so, however, the long-term goal of Storytelling Club is to participate in a school-wide assembly where they may share those same stories.

Since its beginning, Storytelling has had an attendance issue. It has had recurring members, but not as many as the club would hope to have. Part of this is due to the lack of word-of-mouth advertising, and part, one could assume, is due to the fear of public speaking. However, no one who attends Storytelling Club is ever required to share a story; anyone is welcome to come just to listen to others.

For new freshmen: joining a club is an enriching experience that does not require participation beyond our 30 minute “AIM”/club periods which usually occur on the 3rd Wednesday of every month. Joining clubs is a chance to make friends, share your ideas, and make a change in your school and your community.

Former club advisor, Mr. Galante, says of Storytelling club: “I started this because of a personal love for storytelling and the way it can bring people together. Last year at a workshop at Facebook HQ I listened to stories of students from all over the country from all walks of life share their experiences with one another. This was a profound moment where everyone broke down social, economic, geographic, and gender barriers and saw what united them rather than what divided them.”

Storytelling meets during AIM periods in room 115 with new advisor, Ms. Caroline O’Brien, and anyone and everyone is welcome (even just to try it out). If you would like to keep up with any updates, you may also join the Google Classroom with the code: gh3fbs

Jolie Suarez, Staff Writer

LHS graduate Jolie Suarez was a staff writer for the 2017-2018 Colonel. While binge-watching The Vampire Diaries, she eats salt and vinegar chips, Twizzlers, Wendy’s, Sour Patch Kids, and drinks Olive Garden limonatas.