This month we’re excited to share about Nancy, an amazing volunteer!
Where are you from?
New Orleans
What first brought you to 826 New Orleans?
826 DC
What keeps you coming back?
Its character and talent like in you kids, the spark of divine fire. Also my roots.
What are some skills you have that help you out at 826 New Orleans?
Prose composition and emotional therapy trying to get the chance to look into each other’s soul and finding out your story.
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
Writing
Favorite book/ author?
Walker Percy had the biggest influence on me when I was young. Now? You can’t list just one – here are some: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Nabokov, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, Jan Morris, Balzac…
This month we’re excited to share about Errol, a volunteer who is near and dear to our hearts!
Where are you from? Born and raised here in New Orleans
What first brought you to 826 New Orleans?
The program director is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.
(Though if you need a less creepy answer: I really like the work you guys are doing with the writing programs for the kids)
What keeps you coming back?
The kids are amazing.
The staff is great.
The events are so much fun.
I really love it there.
What are some skills you have that help you out at 826 New Orleans? I’m the chief nerd consultant and electronic problem solver. Also I’m great at checking names off on lists when we have guests. Also my most important job, keep the program director happy.
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
Being a nerd for a living! I work in IT
Also doing cool things like night swan rides in city park.
Favorite book/ author?
I’m all over the place but (shocker) I’m reading a lot of sci-fi right now.
Favorite snack?
Snack, I dunno. But food in general is always gonna be shrimp.
Favorite thing about New Orleans?
It’s the best city in the world, with amazing food, people, and music. There’s too much great stuff to name but if im picking one thing….
Congrats to Chris Staudinger, our January Volunteer of the Month! Chris started volunteering with Big Class two years ago on the bilingual book project, Lo Inolvidable, at Grace King High School. Since then, Chris is been a steady force in Big Class’s Writers’ Room at Sylvanie Williams. In the past month, Chris diligently helped students write letters in response to the 2016 election for our upcoming book. Thanks for all your hard work, Chris!
What first brought you to Big Class? One of my friends, and then my mom, both heard about Big Class and told me I should look into volunteering since I was struggling to keep up with my writing. I liked how it was a double community of kid writers and adult writers. What keeps you coming back? I come back because I want to see what the kids will write. I’m pretty envious of how kids can be like firehoses with their creativity and very random. I also like the challenge of encouraging kids who aren’t as free flowing with their writing to realize they’ve got valuable things to say. What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class? On a different level, prompts often elicit painful or traumatic memories in students’ lives, and those are delicate moments. It can be difficult to imagine what kids sometimes go through at really young ages here in New Orleans. It’s also difficult to know how to guide those moments into writing, but when it works, I think writing can be an invaluable outlet. One of my skills is that I understand how difficult it can be to put even the simplest thought onto paper, so I am hopefully a patient teacher for that reason. What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class? The biggest challenge for me is letting myself be led by the kids’ natural material, rather than trying to lead them towards my own conclusions of what good writing might be. It’s fun to watch Ashley work with the kids in the Writers’ Room for that reason. She can take some of the kids’ most random-seeming responses and engage with them to spark more and more weird material. What are some great projects you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind one of them if you can. My first project with big class was the superhero comic book Lo Inolvidable with high school students at Grace King. The students wrote about a time in their lives when they had gone above and beyond and shown some kind of super power, which I think is a brilliant and empowering prompt that we all could probably use. Most of these kids had recently moved to New Orleans from Central America, and they had amazing stories. Many of their drawings were incredible too. One young woman cried when she read her story at the book release, if I remember correctly. It’s a good book! What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us? Outside of Big Class, I work at the Contemporary Arts Center, guide kayak trips in the swamp, write, and march with a color guard team called the Flaming Flagettes.
Congrats to our December Volunteer of the Month, Fall Programming Intern Tawanda Cummings! Tawanda has been interning with Big Class every Monday and Wednesday this fall. She is the teaching assistant for the Big Class in Residence Program at Eisenhower Academy of Global Studies, where she assists with the 7/8 grade Newspaper class and the 3rd and 6th grade Bookmaking classes. She also helps out at the office, using her writing skills to craft communication and outreach for Big Class. Thanks for a great semester, Tawanda!
What first brought you to Big Class? I heard about Big Class in 2012, when I was a senior in high school. I decided to finally try and get more involved this year. I just really liked that Big Class is doing writing workshops and programs for kids who usually don’t have access to that sort of thing. What keeps you coming back? I like seeing the progression of the organization, even though I come to the office once or twice a week, it’s like every time I come in something new is happening. Also, the students that I come in contact with by volunteering on Mondays. I enjoy seeing their progression and interest in writing and brainstorming and creating something unique of their own that’s an actual representation of their own experiences and way of life. What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class? My writing skills have come in handy for sure. I can write for a variety of different purposes, and I’ve used them to write newsletters, emails, worksheets, etc. Another skill that helps me is my organization skills. It always helps to be able to break tasks down into smaller, bite-sized pieces. What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class? I’ve really had to try and ask more questions instead of being as timid as I usually am. It’s been hard for me to come out of my shell, but at Big Class, I really have chances to throw aside any anxiousness and just put myself out there more. Instead of wasting time overthinking, I just stop and believe in myself. The environment (welcoming staff, small office) at Big Class really helps me to get into mood that’s comfortable enough for me to really do my thing. What are some great projects you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind one of them if you can. I think that A Dark and Stormy Night was a great project. I really got to see everything that goes into planning from the beginning, so I’m glad I could help. I’m particularly proud of my A Dark and Stormy Night newsletter series. What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us? When I’m not interning, I have class and I work. But for fun, I have a list of restaurants I want to go and a list of places I want to visit in the city. I also write and I love concerts.
Congrats to our November Volunteer of the Month, Mallory Falk! Mallory worked as a radio production mentor last year with Big Class’s teen program, the Youth Advisory Council. In the program, teens from around New Orleans are mentored by professional writers and artists, and engage in a writing-based multi-disciplinary collaborative project. Read our Q&A with Mallory below:
What first brought you to Big Class?
Aubrey [Edwards, Big Class Teen Programs Coordinator] reached out and asked if I’d like to help teach radio. I immediately loved the sound of Big Class–a supportive, encouraging space where young people develop the skills to tell their own stories and explore their world. What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
Back when I was a student, I learned all the radio basics through fun, hands-on activities. I try to bring those great activities to Big Class. I also bring my experience as a reporter and producer, which helps immensely as we cover topics like pitching stories, collecting sound and conducting interviews. What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
Too little time! The workshops go by so fast. What are some great projects you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind one of them if you can.
I mentored two brilliant, budding radio producers as they worked on a feature-length story about the New Orleans education system. They asked students all across the city how they chose their high school and if the school matched their expectations. This radio duo was so impressive and self-motivated – conducting tons of interviews outside of Big Class, mixing sound late into the night. I was blown away by their final product, which offered a moving look into how students navigate our city’s unique school system. What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
Producing stories for WWNO, New Orleans Public Radio and spending as much time as possible near the bayou.
Congrats to July’s volunteer of the month, Patrice! Patrice was our Programs Intern in the spring of 2016, and taught poetry during after-care at Akili, helped with in-school projects, and copyedited countless pieces of student writing. Read our interview with Patrice:
What first brought you to Big Class? I’m an English major at The University of New Orleans, and during my last semester I wanted to get involved in an internship. Preferably one that made a positive impact on youth. I read about Big Class and the amazing work they do with youth and the rest was history! What keeps you coming back? The kids at Big Class keep me coming back. I’ve never worked with such a fun group of students. One minute I’m laughing at a funny dance or joke and the next I have goosebumps and tears over beautifully written words. Those kids have soul, and they are not afraid to express themselves. I keep coming back because the experience is so rewarding. What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class? Patience is probably the most used skill that I used. I needed patience for everything. Writing and teaching calls for a lot of patience and think I mastered that skill. What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class? The biggest challenges that I’ve faced is technological distraction–specifically cell phones. Today, kids all have cell phones and they are strongly connected to each other through social media, but it can be hard to keep students focused and off of their phones. What are some great projects you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind one of them if you can. I loved working on the poems about “self” with the middle schoolers at Akili. “My name is…”, “Recipe of me”, and “Where I’m From.” I enjoyed these projects because they helped build confidence. Middle school is the toughest time in an adolescent’s life. It’s a time of change, and if one does not have a strong sense of self and identity, depression can set in and learning is stifled. I loved watching their faces light up when they wrote and expressed things about themselves that they were proud of. I also loved learning about each student’s background. There were some amazing facts I learned about some of the students. These projects also helped me learn about their own personal interests, which helped with future projects. What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us? When I’m not volunteering with Big Class, You can find me at UNO studying (I’m beginning my masters this Fall), working at Cavan restaurant, modeling for local designers and boutiques, or traveling with my amazing boyfriend.
