Category: Spotlight

Congrats to our June Volunteer of the Month, Olivia! Read our interview with Olivia here:

What first brought you to Big Class?
I’m part of a group called Wildseeds: The New Orleans Octavia Butler Emergent Strategy Collective (phew!), a Black feminist collective which, among many other things, hosts book clubs and writing workshops inspired by the work of visionary speculative fiction writers of color like the late, great Octavia Butler. My friend Mwende joined the staff of Big Class and put out a call to the Wildseeds looking for volunteers. 
I’m a writer by passion as well as trade, and I love nothing more than hanging out with young people (the most visionary creators of all!). I worked in schools, outdoor schools, after-school and summer programs all through my teens and 20s, though it had been several years since I’d done anything in that arena besides play with my nieces’ and friends’ many children. I also freelance, so not only do I have a fairly flexible work schedule, I also spend virtually all my work time alone with my laptop. A mid-afternoon volunteer gig once a week, in a space filled with life, creativity, fun surprises, and the wild, wise voices of young folks was a perfect fit. 
What keeps you coming back?
No two days, or groups of kids, at Open Studio are ever alike! The more open format of the program, and the shifting combinations of kids who make their way there day to day, really do allow for a measure of playfulness, freedom, and “emergent strategy” based on the needs of individual kids and the group at any given hour. Ms. Raven and Ms. Mwende do such a phenomenal job of creating a safe, fun “container” for whatever energies and intentions the young folks might be bringing into the space that day, and channeling those into creative practice. Every week I look forward to seeing which kids will be present, how they’ll interact with one another, and what will come out of their brilliant, whizzing brains next!
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
Listening is a huge one. It’s probably the skill that serves me best in life. It also helps that I love doing it, especially with young folks: asking them questions, hearing what they come up with, detecting when their imaginations are taking them someplace different than I’ve been compelled to guide them, and letting that happen. Just listening, and being present and flexible to what young folks might need from me, is a really important tool.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
I travel a bit for work, and I’ve hated to have to miss a week of Open Studio here and there. Also, I don’t know if I’d still be Volunteer of the Month if the deciding factor was kids’ actual output of finished written work when they’re with me! When I’m with kids, we tend to get caught up in “imagination loops” and not all of what we talk about ends up on the page on that particular day, though I do believe those musing sessions are a key part of the creative process! That’s what I tell myself, and them, at least. 
What are some great projects  you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
Honestly, every project is great. From trading haikus with one kid to revising an epic fantasy tome with another, to an eye-opening weekend video project with some of the older girls that took me back to being on the brink of teenage — it has been such a privilege to work with the kids on everything we’ve gotten the chance to work on together. Also, I live to watch them read their published work, and support one another as emcees and audience members. They radiate with pride — and as someone who’s had the honor of having her words in print fairly frequently, that never goes away!
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
You can find me at home or in a café with aforementioned laptop, editing and writing stuff about HIV and other health and justice issues; with a pencil and notebook, jotting down ideas and aimless prose; biking around town, skirting potholes; trying to get comfortable driving a car (just got my license five months ago, for the first time in my life!); gazing at the bayou, waiting for a fish to jump (they really do that!); or dreaming up interesting ways to cook greens.

Congrats to Kesha, our May Volunteer of the Month! Read our interview with Kesha here:

What first brought you to Big Class? 
I first heard about Big Class from a community board notice looking for volunteers to write with children. As I was already tutoring in the neighborhood, I was initially interested in the Open Studio. Once I heard about the scope of Big Class, it was a creative endeavor to teach my own workshops,  as well as to become involved in the Volunteer Leadership Krewe.
What keeps you coming back?
Big Class allows children to explore their own voices and to value them. By writing about their identities, experiences, cultures and imagination, their individuality emerges. They can then bring those authentic voices back into their classrooms and communities. 
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
Facilitating writing workshops with the New York Writers Coalition for 9 years was a learning experience.  Writing with all different ages and groups of people, valuing their voices, and publishing their work was a privilege, and a lot of that experience serves me well in my Big Classes.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
As even the simplest writing prompts can elicit powerful writing around social justice, politics or culture, I have found that I can always be surprised by the depth of ideas. Being prepared to positively engage, encourage, and consistently ask children to write more is a key strategy.
What are some great projects  you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
I love being able to use photography and art along with writing to create exciting projects. In our Water Writers class at Sylvanie Williams College Prep,  5th and 6th graders examined water from the Mississippi River and wrote about their experiences with it, positively and negatively. They also imagined New Orleans in the future and painted those visions with watercolors and water from the Mississippi. 
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
When I am not in the Writers Room, I am hosting international writers, artists, musicians and researchers and exposing them to cultural experiences here in the city. I also enjoy sharing successful poems and books from Big Class writers with them so the word can spread around the world!

Congrats to our April Volunteer of the Month, Maria Delgado! Read our interview with Maria here:

What first brought you to Big Class? 
I went to a Big Class Poetry reading at Maple Street Books last year and really enjoyed myself. Then I found myself looking for a way to get to work with New Orleans youth outside of a school setting and talked to Ashley Teamer about volunteering. 
What keeps you coming back?
Since my first day volunteering I haven’t gone much more than a day without thinking about the Big Class kids. They’re brilliant, funny, and wonderful
company. 
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
Not everyone can speak to kids without patronizing them and I’m grateful that the Big Class environment values and encourages realness and sincerity with the Big Classmates. I really enjoy relating to the kids.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
The biggest challenge is hearing from the kids about the challenges that schools in New Orleans face because of limited resources and the national emphasis on standardized testing. It’s apparent the stress that teachers and administrators face and it’s very apparent how it affects the kids’ daily school experience (and in turn, their home lives).
What are some great projects  you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
I have gotten to illustrate two young authors’ stories at Akili Academy and I spend Monday Afternoons at Open Studio. Raven and Mwende have really made Mondays special. Because the kids seem to have myriad of emotions on Mondays Mwende started calling it “Moody Monday” and giving the kids’ writing prompts focused on their feelings at that moment. It’s been really cool getting to witness the kids express their inner emotional lives as well as their amazing imaginations. We also started doing group stretching before snack and writing time which has been really useful in all of us getting and staying present. 
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
When I’m not at Big Class I’m a cook at Pagoda Cafe, read, shop at thrift stores, and play in 2 bands, TV-MA and Special Interest. 

Congrats to our March Volunteer of the Month, Grace Hunter! Read our interview with Grace here:

What first brought you to Big Class? 
I heard about Big Class from people at 826 Valencia in San Francisco
What keeps you coming back?
The stories keep me coming back! I look forward to hearing or reading all about what happened in someone’s beautiful brain that day. The students’ process their worlds in such phenomenally creative ways.
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
Listening intently has served me well at Big Class, being a solid sounding board for any and all ideas seems to be the most useful skill I have to offer. 
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
The biggest challenge that I have had to deal with while volunteering for Big Class has been my own time management! Sometimes I get so excited as kids talk through their days it detracts from the time that needs to be spent putting those words down onto the page. 
What are some great projects  you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
Some of my favorite projects have come out of the Big Class workshops. I was particularly a fan of Monster Lab. One of the students from Akili showed up. Sometimes shifting the social setting of a classroom can lend to more engagement with the assignment. At the workshop, I was blown away by how many details Jacob crammed into his story. Everything from a glowing red eye to a harrowing backstory that made me sympathize with his spooky monster. The project produced pages of scary and fascinating monster tales and I was so happy to be a part of it.
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
Big Class is the best part of my week–who knew Tuesdays and Thursdays were something to look forward to! On the days in between, I am fixing my house, reading comics, and kayaking around the murky water. 

Congrats to our February Volunteer of the Month, Erin Ruane! Read our interview with Erin here:

What first brought you to Big Class? 
Pizza Poetry! A colleague asked her students to write for the Pizza Poetry day and I was intrigued about who organized this idea.  A year later, my students were writing stories about zombies in their neighborhoods with Big Class.  
What keeps you coming back?
The endless possibilities to collaborate with young writers. I have fun sharing my passions (like food and photography!) while learning about new ideas through the writing form. Big Class encourages me to think outside the box when dreaming up ideas for a workshop or class.  
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
It’s fun to think of the different ways we can develop ideas, from group brainstorming to independent art gallery walks, I’m always reminded of the creative ways to approach writing. 
My skills as a former teacher also helped me develop a kid friendly curriculum for Unfathomable Cities, a New Orleans Atlas–one of my favorite Big Class projects, and one of my favorite books! 
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
Having a full time job makes it tough to find time for all the excellent programs I want to participate in. It was especially difficult to learn I wouldn’t be able work with former students anymore due to scheduling differences. The good news, I have met dynamic, new ones!
What are some great projects  you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
So many projects to share! My students gave escape plans if a Zombie Apocalypse happened in their neighborhood and shared their selling prowess through Haunted Real Estate Ads. That same year, my students participated in fun workshops like New Orleans food poetry, and directing videos to go along with their original poems. 
I wrote a student friendly curriculum for Unfathomable Cities, A New Orleans Atlas so teachers could present real inspiration around New Orleans subjects. I covered the chapter, “Oil and Water,” a section grappling with the oil industry in the Gulf and how it affects greater New Orleans. At the book release party, I saw how the curriculum came to life and even got to meet one of the authors, Rebecca Snedeker!    
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
I work at a French Quarter think tank, GumboLive as a creative and social media strategist.  In my spare time, I freelance interior design and work my small business “Baby Jesus”- an essential oil blend consisting of frankincense and myrrh.

Congrats to our January Volunteer of the Month, Rick Montgomery! Read our interview with Rick:

What first brought you to Big Class? 
I had just moved back to Louisiana after graduate school and I wanted to get involved with the book scene here in New Orleans. I popped into Maple Street Bookshop where the proprietor kindly guided me to the coolest classroom I’ve ever stepped foot in.
What keeps you coming back?
Well, the kids of course! And that means all of the staff and volunteers too. Inspiration and creativity are contagious. The Big Class community thrives on spreading a childlike approach to telling stories. You’ve got a story and you should tell it.
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
Science! Being a scientist has so many perks. I get to answer questions about space and time and rocket ships and aliens and sea creatures and DNA and teleportation and computers of the future and artificial intelligence and what it means to be human! Because science touches every aspect of the world, I have an ocean of ideas to help spark the creative flint of youngins. And I can help them with their math homework.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
When J.M. Barrie said that because fairies are so small, they have room for only one feeling at a time, I’m pretty sure he was also talking about kids! Creative work can be frustrating. Frustration can be all consuming. Finding the best way to guide a child through their frustration is very challenging and can require a lot of patience.
What are some great projects  you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
I led the the kids through the dark alleys of their minds while we cataloged and sketched the things that go bump in New Orleans! Monster Lab is a space for us to preempt Halloween with stories of encountering the monsters that haunt our streets and our dreams. I had nightmares for weeks!
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
I split my time between reading Latin American literature, learning to play the Cajun accordion, and working as a real life scientist at a startup business from Tulane called Advanced Polymer Monitoring Technologies.

Congrats to our December Volunteer of the Month, Will Livingston Smith! Read our interview with Will:

What first brought you to Big Class? 
Well initially, the need to graduate brought me to Big Class. Getting college credit for an internship allowed me to graduate in the fall.
What keeps you coming back?
I can honestly say I love what I’m doing with the group. I genuinely feel I’m making a positive impact on students’ lives by helping them express themselves more fully.
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
I’m a writer with a pretty big personality. Above that, I understand the struggles of being a student. I understand where the students are at and how to approach them.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
Working with aftercare, there’s some students who don’t take to writing readily. With the help of the Big Class team, we’ve developed ways to work with them by incorporating other forms of art.
What are some great projects  you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
The first Big Class project I worked on was “A New Planet in Space.” It was a book published by Big Class with writing from the 3rd and 4th graders at Akili Academy. 
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
When I’m not at Big Class, I’m managing a pharmacy and neglecting a book I’ve been working on for two years.

Congrats to our November Volunteer of the Month, Jenna Knoblach! Read our interview with Jenna:

What first brought you to Big Class? 
I first learned about Big Class in 2011 at a gallery off of St. Claude. On the walls, there were stories and illustrations for the first publications. On the ceiling, bound books floated like birds. I knew there was something special happening. A couple years later, I was able to start devoting time to Big Class’s programs. I was teaching full time, but I still needed an outlet where I could help feed somebody’s creativity. It was easy to make time for Big Class.
What keeps you coming back?
Kids are there because they want to learn.  Adults are there because they want to teach.  There isn’t a high stakes test that will pass them to the next grade. I keep coming back to Big Class because it doesn’t operate under ordinary structures. It is truly amazing that students get to have this “third space” that isn’t school or home. At Big Class, students can stand up out of their seat.  They can make decisions about a book they want to make with their friends. They can grow their confidence in creative writing and public speaking.
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
In school, I studied both visual art and creative writing.  Big Class is the marriage of my two loves.  Something I’m really excited about is leading the Undrawable Stories workshop this year. Students will write a narrative that is so strange, so bizarre that it will be simply impossible to illustrate. At Press Street’s 24-hour Draw-A-Thon, artists will make the stories come to life. This exercise leads young writers to think with images in mind. Communication, for me, has always been visual–whether it is with art or with words.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
A challenge I’ve faced with Big Class is working with older students for the first time. A lot of my teaching experience has never reached the sixth grade or higher. By that age, students are more able to discern power structures, and it can be more difficult to gain their trust and help them see writing as something that can transport them from the everyday. Doing simple things like creating a mural or taking a field trip can really be helpful to cultivate that “third space,” so students can know they are safe to try new things. 
What are some great projects you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
A project I had a lot of fun helping with was the Encyclopedia of Eats workshop. I remember helping a student, Frank, who had an idea of wanting to write about a crawfish boil. He wasn’t sure where else to go with it, but I kept asking questions and found out he enjoyed dialogue. His story ended up being this really funny play where the chef and the crawfish were making arguments for why or why not the crawfish should get eaten. 
    When I taught math I was always trying to get my students to sign up for weekend workshops at Big Class. Finally, April came around. I was able to work with my creative students on the sly and get them published in the Pizza Poetry Anthology. Garage Pizza delivered to our school, we played pin the pepperoni on the pizza, and I got to see my students’ faces finding their poems on pizza boxes.
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
When I’m not volunteering at Big Class, I’m making art, seeing art, reading about art, and teaching talented art.

Congrats to our October Volunteer of the Month, Saiya Miller! Read our interview with Saiya:

What first brought you to Big Class? 
I walked into the Big Class space on St. Claude by chance when I was stopping by to see an art show upstairs.  I ended up spending more time downstairs reading student writing than upstairs at the show.  I felt so inspired by the books and the intention behind them, and I knew then and there that I wanted to be involved! 
What keeps you coming back?
Each Big Class project that I have participated in has been so special in its own way.  The students I meet are such a good reminder to keep creating art and producing writing, no matter what else is going on in your brain or in your life.  The way they write about things is so fresh! They are geniuses
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
I like to write and draw and make and books, so that helps!  Being an open and excitable person has been useful at Big Class too. I like to juggle a lot of projects and attempt to do it all, even if it makes me crazy.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
Mostly, I just wish I had more time and energy to help out with more projects. I definitely need to challenge myself to limit the projects I want to work on.  Sometimes I am spread as thin as a pancake and I don’t want to become a crepe!
What are some great projects  you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
My favorite Big Class project that I worked on was Lo Inolvidable, a collection of comics made by a class at Grace King High School.  The class was made up entirely of English Language Learners (ELL).  They each wrote a comic about a time in their lives that they felt heroic.  Many wrote about their experience coming to the United States, and challenges they faced once they arrived here.  The book is bilingual and each student worked so hard on both their writing and the drawings that would accompany the stories.
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
I work for the New Orleans Public Library, organize a summer program called Girls Rock New Orleans, play bass in two bands, draw and write, sail and canoe, hang out with dogs and go camping!!!