The Importance of Sharing Our Stories

This blog post was originally posted on the Center for Global Initiatives staff blog on February 10, 2011.

In the past few weeks I’ve gotten to know nearly 25 new Carolina Navigators.

I always enjoy hearing about the study abroad, internship, and travel experiences that students are eager to share through presentations in K-12 classrooms across North Carolina.

One reason, I think, that students are drawn to the Carolina Navigators program is because they want (perhaps need?) to tell their stories. And K-12 students in North Carolina want (perhaps need!) to hear them. As one program alumnus put it:

Carolina Navigators unleashed a need for me to spread my knowledge. After my first couple presentations, I realized that I wanted to share everything I had learned with others. Specifically, I wanted to share my experiences and encourage younger students to make their own experiences.

Telling and retelling our stories from abroad helps us reflect on, process, and learn from our international experiences. Hearing such stories humanizes distant places, encourages curiosity, and teaches K-12 students important intercultural and travel skills.

I’m thrilled that Carolina Navigators now offers students the opportunity to digitally share their international and intercultural stories with K-12 students and teachers through Voicethreads.

Students’ Voicethread stories are posted on the Carolina Navigators website and are available 24/7. Currently, there are 18 stories posted. Some examples: A Walk through the Streets of Nairobi, My Indian Roots, Life in Rural Ecuador, Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, Ghana: Culture and Corruption.

I look forward to hearing the stories that our new Carolina Navigators have to tell — about the Chinese tea ceremony, Monkey Kung Fu, the Galapagos Islands, and living with a host family in northern India, just to name a few.

Do you have an international or intercultural story to share? Tell us in the comments!