Students organize 1st ‘Collins Storytelling Project’

Twelve stories will be told in two hours at the Collins Living-Learning Center coffee house Friday as a part of the first Collins Storytelling Project.

What started out as Collins Living-Learning Center Q Project, sophomores Will Mruzek and Barton Girdwood said they hope to turn into a tradition by welcoming all members of the Collins Living-Learning Center community to listen to the life experiences of others.

“The program is about speaking from memory and telling a story of your life,” said Girdwood, who is also the Vice Chair of Arts Council for Collins Living-Learning Center. “The idea is to be as if you’re with your best friend, sitting in a rocking chair, telling stories and reminiscing about how things are, how things were and how things could be.”

The event will be recorded and broadcast on WFHB’s Saturday program “The Porch Swing.”

“We all have memories,” Mruzak said. “People on the surface who may seem really uninteresting surely have stories to tell. Why not share them?”

Several storytellers were selected after expressing interest to Mruzak and Girdwood. Others were asked by the duo to tell a story because Mruzak and Girdwood knew they had interesting stories to tell.

There are no limits on the content of the stories.

Freshman Kelci Schmidt will be one of the storytellers Friday. She said the inspiration for her story came from the first time she felt someone believed in her completely.

“I was bad at math, and one teacher changed my life,” she said. “She just died recently, and I feel like this is a good way to honor her for everything she’s given me.”
Freshman Harlan Kelly will also share experiences about his family at the storytelling project.

“I am speaking about a lot of the contributing factors to who I am now, except condensed into ten minutes,” he said. “I am proud of my family. I like who they are and how they’ve influenced me.”

Girdwood said the event is appropriate for Collins because by sharing personal experience, students can promote tolerance and diversity, some of the values stressed by the Collins community.

“The project promotes how we’re different as a collective body of people living amongst one another,” he said.

Schmidt said the event is a great community-builder and she loves the idea.

“It is interesting to hear stories from someone that you don’t know at all,” she said. “It gives insight into where people come from.”

Free cereal and milk will be available to those who attend, which Girdwood said is in an effort to create a relaxed event.

“We’re going to eat cereal together and tell stories,” Girdwood said. “It’s meant to be a ‘let’s hang out as if we’re old friends’ type thing.”

Collins Storytelling Project
WHEN 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday
WHERE Collins Living-Learning Center coffee house
ADMISSION Free