Last week the Press hosted its first Report for Harvard workshop, a two-day community event that brought together a select group of Bromfield students, Press staff, and Harvard residents. We had two goals: to teach a group of students the fundamentals of interviewing and story crafting, and, in collaboration with adults from the community, record and develop first-person narratives that would enliven our readers’ sense of their town.
We weren’t sure it could be done. For the interviewing, we drew on the experience of Everyday Boston (everydayboston.org) and its founder Cara Solomon, who has run similar programs with high school students in Boston neighborhoods. Day one was spent practicing and conducting interviews. Day two was new, an experiment. Could students and a group of Press mentors tease out stories from 3,000 to 4,000-word transcripts compiled overnight and create a publishable narrative? Saturday’s workshop put the idea to the test. Did we and our student collaborators succeed? Beginning next week, Press readers will be able to judge for themselves, as we release six stories, one by one, in upcoming issues of the paper.
We are filled with gratitude for all the support we received. The workshop would not have been possible without the financial support of Rollstone Bank and the Harvard Schools Trust. We thank both for their contributions and their confidence in our vision. Harvard’s Charlie Sennott, founder of the GroundTruth Project and co-founder of Report for America, inspired and coached us as we designed the workshop, and his talk last year on the state of journalism provided additional funding. Bromfield English Department Chair Janet Brown and Bromfield Mirror adviser Jessica Hyde provided valuable feedback and ensured we had the support of the Bromfield school administration.
We could not have succeeded, however, without the friendly support of the Harvard residents who shared their stories with us, or of Press staffers Carlene Phillips, Marty Green, and Patty Mahoney, and former staffer Sydney Blackwell, who generously mentored the students Friday and Saturday as they conducted their interviews and honed their narratives. Press staffers Green, Val Hurley, Joan Eliyesil, and Matt Flokos, joined by volunteer Jennfer Finch, worked far into Friday evening to prepare word-for-word transcripts of the interviews, an hours-long task even with the help of transcription software. We owe a special thanks to the Harvard Unitarian Church, whose Fellowship Building provided the perfect venue for our work. And needless to say, the students were amazing.
Report for Harvard is a beginning, not an end. Can stories help dispel stereotypes and build connections in our community, as Everyday Boston declares in its mission statement? Help us find out and tell us what you think.
