(Photo credit to Alec Rogers of The Bucknellian)
Class: Senior
Major: English and Women’s and Gender Studies
What are you involved in on campus?
I’m really heavily involved in my work at the Griot Institute for Africana Studies. I’ve been working there since I was a freshman, and have recently started focusing mainly on the Storytelling Project, which my boss and I developed a few years ago.
For people who may not know, what is the Storytelling Project?
The Storytelling Project is a collection of Bucknellian stories, whether they are individual voices or each student’s response to a class-based prompt. Basically, the Griot has created a webpage as a hub for Bucknell stories and we’re always adding more!
What inspired you to create this project?
A “griot” is a traditional West African storyteller and oral historian. As the Griot Institute at Bucknell, we wanted to function as Bucknell’s storyteller, and we decided to create a space that features a bunch of individual stories so that we can maintain a collective oral history of Bucknell students, staff, faculty, and alumni. I was also really inspired to pursue personal stories because, in my mind, Bucknell is such a small community, and yet we really don’t know that much about one another on a meaningful level. It’s really refreshing to see a face and a name, but also to hear a voice and experience a small but significant part of someone else’s life.
How do you put the stories together? What is the process, start to finish, of telling the story?
When people find me and tell me that they want to participate in the project, I basically say, “Tell me a story,” and then record their raw, unscripted thoughts in the sound booth. I really discourage formal preparation because I want the stories to sound as real and genuine as possible; when people are reading off of a script or have rehearsed in advance, they just don’t sound super authentic. Then, I edit the story and take out all the “umm”s and “uhh”s and stumbles and stutters, and smooth it down into a concise and polished file.
Why should Bucknellians check out the Storytelling Project? And if they’re interested, how can students get involved in the project?
Bucknellians should check out the Storytelling Project because it matters. Because the stories of their friends and classmates and the random people they pass on the quad matter. Because we like to hide behind the generic smile and pretend that everything’s fine and that we’re all okay, but the truth is that everyone has really unique and meaningful experiences, whether they are struggles, victories, or just some personal reflections on life. To get involved, FIND ME!! Send me an email (hch004@bucknell.edu) and I would love to work with you. And, if you’re thinking, “I don’t have any cool stories,” you’re totally wrong and should find me anyway.
What’s been your most memorable Bucknell experience to date and why?
I have to say that one of the greatest Bucknell moments for me was when I was in a Web Development meeting and saw the beautiful prototype for the Storytelling website for the first time. I had spent so much time editing and collecting photographs and files and preparing for this hypothetical web launch, but to actually see everything together on a Bucknell webpage was pretty unreal.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
It’s taken me a long, long time to be able to get to this point, but I’d like to hope that in ten years, I’ll be happy and doing something meaningful with my life. Still not sure what form that’s going to take, but I’ve stopped trying so hard to figure it out.
Quick Qs:
Can’t leave the dorm/house without: Cell phone. Hands down.
Caffeine fix comes from coffee or tea: Is that even a question? Coffee.
One word of advice for telling “your” story: Don’t try to make your story into what you think it should be, tell it as it is!
Campus study spot: Comfy couch room in the library
Little known fact: I’m really creeped out by mannequins. Weird, right?