The bell rang and students rushed towards the door, tossing booklets and name tags onto the table in front of me as they streamed out of the classroom.
“Thank you so much everyone!,” I shouted over the rabble as students poured out into the hallway, desperate to take advantage of the 8 minutes of freedom between each period in an Anchorage high school. I pulled paper inserts out of the plastic nametags we’d given each student two weeks earlier and smiled at Anastasia, one of our Story Works Teaching Fellows. “We did it!,” I said.
We’d just wrapped up the final Story Works workshop for the 2025-2026 school year. I started as the Story Works Program Coordinator in February, having long admired the program from afar. I have a background in both outdoor education and a traditional classroom setting, but since making the full-time move to Anchorage in 2023 I’d worked in advocacy and hadn’t returned to education. When I saw the job posting pop up, I decided to take the leap. I couldn’t be happier with my decision.
Story Works was founded in 2014 and moved to the Forum in 2023. Since its inception it’s served over 6,000 students across the state, and is on track to pass 7,000 by the end of this year. For two weeks, we partner with an English/Language Arts teacher and lead students through a storytelling workshop to develop true, 4-5 minute stories that students care about. Throughout the process, students brainstorm, reflect, jot down ideas, talk with their classmates, practice telling their stories, bounce ideas off of their teachers and Story Works staff, and give and receive feedback to improve other students’ stories and their own. In the last two days of the workshop, students have the opportunity to share their stories in front of the entire class.
Every Story Works workshop begins and ends in nearly identical fashion; at the beginning, most students indicate that they’re open to the experience, but a little scared. By the end, students smile, share gratitude, and listen intently to one another’s stories.
On the first of the eight days, Story Works staff enter the classroom, explain what the next two weeks will look like, and set norms. A few students seem excited, while most seem nervous about the prospect of sharing a story in front of their class. What if their classmates mock their story? What if they get made fun of for taking it seriously? As we all know, high school can be brutal. Regardless of the audience, sharing something about yourself is vulnerable and can be hard. In order to combat this, we set norms at the beginning of each workshop.
The norms for each workshop are: Be True, Be Kind, and Be Brave. We spend about 10 minutes in the first class talking through the norms and asking students to consider what they might look like in practice. We continue to emphasize them throughout the workshop, particularly when students seem to have a hard time sharing or a hard time treating one another with respect. For many students, this is the first time they’ve encountered formalized group agreements. We talk through what it means to create community standards, and what it means to hold ourselves to them. By creating a set of expectations for students, we create a space where they can expect to be respected and well-received. We create trust.
The second week of Story Works is called Story Week. By this point, students have chosen what stories they will share and begun to flesh them out. During Story Week, they’ll develop them further, practice sharing with one another, and tell their stories in small groups with a Story Coach.
Story Coaches are members of the community who volunteer their time to help with Story Works. Folks from all different corners of Anchorage volunteer their time to listen to student stories, facilitate feedback from other students, and share feedback with students to prepare them for the moment that they tell their stories to their entire class. We could not be more grateful to the Story Coaches for the time and energy they put into working with students to create strong and important stories.
At the end of Story Week, students have the opportunity to share their stories in front of the class. These days are where the magic really happens - students who have been closed off for the entire workshop suddenly stand in front of the class and share something about themselves - a moment with a sibling; a story about leaving their home country; a favorite birthday memory. And their classmates listen.
Before beginning Story Day, we review the three agreements, ensure that all cell phones and devices are put away, and guide students through active listening. While each student tells their story, the rest of the class writes down quotes that stand out to them, and a thank you that they could tell to the storyteller. At the end of the workshop, students go around the room and share out quotes and thank yous to other storytellers - it is always a joy to watch students light up as their experiences are recognized and quotes from their stories are read aloud to the room by another person.
Story Works gives students confidence, allows them to practice public speaking, and creates an opportunity for students to share an experience in a supportive space. But I think its real value comes from the ways in which students practice listening.
Intentional listening is a practice in setting aside judgements and preconceptions. In order to listen authentically, we must approach the speaker with a blank slate. We must hear their story as they wish to tell it, and as they tell it. Throughout the program we remind students to both set aside judgements and to remind themselves that just because they hear one story about a person does not mean they know everything about that individual.
This gives students the opportunity to practice meeting other people where they’re at. This is a skill I was not able to intentionally practice until I was well into adulthood. When we accept people for who they are, we begin to learn more about ourselves; we see our own experiences in those of others. We understand that we are products of our experiences and how we respond to them.
Story Works functions through a trauma-informed approach. The simplest and clearest explanation of what that means is to approach others with a mindset of: “What happened to you?” instead of “What’s wrong with you?” By modeling this in the classroom and by encouraging students to listen respectfully we allow students to see one another in the light of all of their experiences; not as monoliths who fit or don’t fit into the social systems prevalent across high schools. In other words, Story Works allows students to see the humanity in their classmates; to recognize what they have in common, and to remind themselves that everyone is going through something, everyone has valuable experiences, and everyone has value. It’s important to create spaces where students can authentically share, and watch as their classmates authentically share. In order for our community to be well connected, we have to be comfortable with sharing.
Although I’m looking forward to a bit of rest after wrapping up the first semester of my time with Story Works, I’m disappointed that the semester ended so quickly. Story Works gives me hope. It reminds me that we are not as disconnected as we may seem; that early intervention works; that our youngest generations are still capable of putting down the phones and having a meaningful conversation. I would love to see Story Works continue to grow and spread across Alaska. This past year, the Humanities Forum established a pilot program in the Bering Strait School District funded by an Alaska Mental Health Trust grant. What would happen if something like Story Works became a part of the state curriculum? What would happen if we gave all of our students the space to share something meaningful about their lives? How might connections in the classroom change?
When students connect with one another, they put down the phones. When students feel heard by their teacher, they sit up a little straighter and ask more questions. When we connect with one another, we connect with the world. We engage with ourselves. And we find meaning.
As I finish writing this in my sunny backyard, I find myself looking forward to the fall. I’m looking forward to bringing Story Works to more students; to connecting with teachers who care deeply about youth storytelling and their students’ wellbeing; and to building community across Anchorage.
If you are interested in volunteering or working with Story Works, please reach out. We are looking forward to including more members of the community in this program and bringing it to more classrooms across Alaska.
