A New Generation of Storytellers! By Isabel Estrada O’Hagin

On Wednesday, May 13, I had the honor of being the featured author at the 39th Young Writers Day coordinated by the Heritage Southwest Intermediate School District held at the beautiful campus of Southwestern Michigan College in Cass County. The program included an illustrator, Aaron Zenk, and storyteller, Kevin Kammerad.   

“The purpose of Young Writers Day is to enhance and motivate elementary students to write.”

HSISD directs this fine celebration of student writing both by exhibiting literally hundreds of student works, and by introducing children to published authors and illustrators, as well as leading storytellers. The program is open to 2nd through 5th grades, and each participating student must submit a book for display.

Teachers from four different school districts brought fifteen students per grade level per school system. Each of the grade level groups, 2^nd-3^rd and 4^th-5^th, rotated between the three sessions: writing, storytelling, and illustration, in addition to two breaks and lunch.

After a quick plot summary of my picture book, LA MARIACHI (illustrated by Addy Sonda Rivera), I shared the inspiration that led to my manuscript and talked about my background and writing process. I emphasized the idea of connecting your passion with the heart of your story.  To get them started, I encouraged students to draw on their own life experiences using a template: What Do You Bring to the Picture, inspired by Linda Sue Park’s concept of what a writer brings to the table. After identifying their strengths, interests, and unique traits, I encouraged students to build on those traits combined with their imaginations to create a Story Spine (Leslie Helakoski)—one of the fundamental building blocks to writing a story. First, we created a story as a group, and then students were given time to work on their individual stories and were encouraged to discuss their story ideas with their peers. The Young Writers were engaged and involved throughout the process—an exciting opportunity for all.

A marvelous aspect of the Young Writers Day involves students preparing their own manuscripts and sharing them with their peers. The schedule allows breaks for students to peruse the manuscripts and books written by their peers. Last year, students asked for more time to read each other’s books, and this year’s schedule reflected that change. How awesome is that? Student-created works were on display before the event, during two fifteen-minute breaks, and during the lunch break. Lowry’s Books also offered books for sale.

Let me tell you—after I perused the fourth & fifth-grade book displays, I joked with their teachers that I would never write again. The students’ stories were fabulous with creative titles, exciting characters, pages full of driving action moving the plot forward, and eye-catching book covers and illustrations. Some students even had their books hardbound at a print shop! Other students included a comments page where readers (their fan base) could share a like. All were positive and supportive.

Author visits are typically filled with memorable moments. . . I glanced at a fourth-grader’s What Do You Bring to the Picture? worksheet where she’d written two sentences: I am a queen.  I am funny. The second part of the writing task was to use the Story Spine as a springboard for their story. This part was left blank. I walked around the hall and came back. The queen was stumped.

I asked, “What does the queen want?” I waited. When she didn’t respond, I made a suggestion by saying something like: “You wrote that you were funny. If I were the queen at this court, I might want everyone to laugh at my jokes and order them to do so.” Immediately, she sat up and with imperial flare gazed down at me. “No, you can’t do that. I’m the queen, and I decide what happens in my court.”

“Yes, I replied. “It’s your queendom after all.”  The Queen’s POV? Covered.

Another awesome memory: After my presentation, students lined up for my autograph—totally unexpected. I’ve signed books at book launches and book festivals, but not at an event like this. After I signed his folder, one boy told me: “This is great. I have Raul the Third’s autograph, and now I have yours.”  Wow! My name in the same sentence as Raul the Third! What fun to feel like a school celebrity!

Other SCBWI members have presented at this event in past years such as Leslie Helakoski, Kat Higgs-Coulthard, Lori Eslick, and LaurieKeller. I’m sure there are others! Please add your name to this list in the comments section.

Final thoughts:

Like Lisa Cron, I believe that we are wired for story and have been since the beginning of time. Story is what keeps us alive and keeps us going. My experience left me with hope that the next generation will value human-based stories. Young writers are writing their own stories and young illustrators are illustrating, and I can’t wait to read them!

 “The best stories are those that come from the heart.” - Kate DiCamillo

Isabel grew up in the desert borderlands of Arizona, dancing and singing her way through life. Always a dreamer, she blends her life experiences as a performing arts educator with her love of Mexican-American culture & folklore into stories. When she’s not writing, she loves to dance, cook, read, daydream, and play with her two gatitos, Dante and Cosmo. She also loves her volunteer work for SCBWI-Michigan as Outreach Coordinator and K.A.S.T. Co-Coordinator (A shout-out to my KAST friends—Where everyone’s a star!)  LA MARIACHI is her debut storybook! Isabel would like to remind everyone that her author name is Isabel Estrada.

 

The Merze Tate Explorers: Young Writers Experience the World

Equity and inclusion continues to be at the forefront of our minds – in our reading, writing, and daily lives. One underlying thought is: who gets to tell your story and who decides. This blog post is the second of a two-part series for our Equity and Inclusion Corner that addresses the issue of access. As in part one, this interview aligns with RAWK’s (Read and Write Kalamazoo) mission to “celebrate and amplify youth voices…through creativity, equity, and access.”

While a reporter at the Kalamazoo Gazette, Sonya Bernard-Hollins wrote a story on African American firsts of Western Michigan University. What she discovered was that Merze Tate was an African American with many “first“ accomplishments. She was the first African American female to earn a Bachelor of Science degree from Western Michigan University, and the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in Political Science from Radcliffe at Harvard University. 

Sonya Bernard-Hollins

Learn more about Merze Tate from a previous Mitten blog post:

Bringing a Hidden Figure to Life for Children.

Tate’s legacy led Sonya to found the Merze Tate Travel Club (now Merze Tate Explorers) in 2008 to expose girls in 5th-12th grades to the community around them, and beyond. Engaged in nonfiction writing about their experiences, the young journalists have navigated a ship on Lake Michigan, flown small aircraft, floated in gondolas in Venice, climbed Mt. Fuji in Japan, and more to discover their world and passions, much as Tate did with her students decades earlier.  

Grab your favorite beverage and enjoy a chat with Sonya.

~ Angela Verges

Can you tell our readers a little about Dr. Merze Tate and how you discovered her work?

I was amazed that a Michigan woman I’d never heard of had done so many great things in the area of education, international politics, government, technology, and the arts. It was her “first” at WMU that really got the ball rolling in my desire to share her story. When she graduated from WMU in 1927, she had the highest academic record in the school’s history. However, African Americans were not hired to teach secondary school in Michigan because of Jim Crow segregation. With the help of Dr. Waldo, the president of WMU, she received a job at Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis. This all-black school was founded in 1927 by leaders in that city’s Ku Klux Klan, to keep schools segregated. She was their first history teacher and started a Travel Club at the school for students to expose them to a world beyond their community. 

How did you begin the Merze Tate Travel Club?

My goal was to write a book about Merze Tate. The actual club began through a challenge from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. They offered a $500 grant to anyone with ideas on how to provide a unique learning experience for youth. I applied for a chance to take girls on an Amtrak from Kalamazoo to Battle Creek to learn about the Underground Railroad. I received the funds, and the rest is history. Because of my background in journalism, I wanted girls to not simply be observers, but reporters to learn how to share what they learn with those in their families and community. What good was it to simply meet someone if you can’t share what you learned? The hook to provide a travel experience and writing made our program unique. And, the fact that it was based on a Michigan woman made it even more unique. 

After I wrote the book Small Beginnings, Merze Tate’s life grew into something bigger for me. The girls who participated in our travel club became an extension of Merze Tate’s story, continuing her legacy. They learned to become writers. Seeing the things Merze Tate did inspired the girls. They didn’t have some of the barriers Merze did.

How are the girls selected to participate in the Travel Club and how many participate?

Auditions are held at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. The girls pull an exhibit title from a hat. They have 15 minutes to research the exhibit and record their findings in a newscast format. They participate in fun games about landmarks around the world. The entire process takes about an hour. In the early days of the Travel Club, we’ve had up to 70-80 girls. Over the years this has been scaled down to 25 girls due to COVID-19 and the need to have a more focused group of girls who work best virtually.

Is there a cost for the girls to participate?

The is a $25 fee which covers the cost of a Polo shirt. The girls do a lot of fundraising so all can participate in study abroad, the summer college academy, and more without the fee being a barrier.

What type of things are the girls involved in?

Over the years, the program has evolved. What began as a Saturday program to expose girls to things such as ice skating, plays, and historic landmarks has become so much more. They participate in community service projects, fundraisers, and take trips to apply for study abroad that are learning experiences. They vote on the service projects and how they will use their funds. 

Study abroad experiences have included visits to places such as Hawaii, Japan, and Europe.  Each trip has a themed focus, usually arts or STEM-related. They have met and interviewed women vice presidents of Fortune 500 companies and history makers such as Mae Jemison and Ruth Carter, the first African American to win an Oscar for Costume Design. Their work as journalists is highlighted each year in their Girls Can! Magazine. 

An annual Summer College Academy allows girls to live on a college campus for a week while meeting college students, administrators and visiting museums or corporations in that area. This experience is often the first time away from home for many and the first time in a college dorm. 
 

You mentioned a partnership with Kalamazoo Valley Community College. What does that entail?

When the girls interviewed Dr. Marshall Washington, the first African American president of Kalamazoo Valley Community College, he was impressed. That led to a partnership to provide students the opportunity to take a college course on Saturdays for credit. Students ages 14 and older qualified while younger students took part in interactive career exploration. It was the first time the college ever provided such a partnership and has since opened the doors for other organizations serving youth. 

Any closing thoughts?

The book! It’s funny because the original purpose was to write a book about Merze Tate. In the meantime, the research I have conducted on her has led to a traveling exhibition of her own photographs that debuted in 2012 at the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame (of which Tate is an inductee). As I continue to work on her biography, I have written, Small Beginnings: A Photographic Journey Through the Life of Merze Tate in the same rhythmic pattern as the poem she wrote on her way to Oxford. It includes many of her own photographs to tell her life story. 

So, Tate’s life continues to inspire as girls find their passion and careers through the exposure of
a travel club based on one she founded in 1928. While she has left millions to universities for
scholarships, it is her determination as a woman of color who defied the odds that allows her
story to live on far after her death in 1996. 

Learn more about Sonya Bernard-Hollins and the Merze Tate Travel Club by visiting
https://www.merzetate.org.

Thank you Sonya for bringing the Merze Tate Girls Club to life for us. May the girls continue to experience all the world has to offer, through your guidance.

Angela Verges is an award-winning humorist (in training, waiting to be discovered). She has shared humor through blogging, women’s retreats, and other venues. Angela is a graduate of Michigan State University and mother of two. She encourages the use of humor for healing and believes you can relieve tension, one laugh at a time.

Angela is also the author of Menopause Ain’t No Joke – Blending Faith and Humor in Perfectly Imperfect Situations.

Contact Angela Verges for speaking engagements, comedy, or to share comments. http://www.angelaverges.com

Read more posts from the SCBWI-MI Equity and Inclusion team here:

https://scbwimithemitten.blogspot.com/p/scbwi-mi-diversity-blog.html