Tag: volunteers
Volunteer of the Month: February 2016
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.
Volunteer of the Month: January 2016
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.
Volunteer of the Month: December 2015
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.
Volunteer of the Month: November 2015
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.
Volunteer of the Month: October 2015
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!!!
Volunteer of the Month: September 2015
Congrats to our September Volunteer of the Month, Zipporah Legarde! Read our interview with Zipporah:
What first brought you to Big Class?
I read about Big Class on a flyer at the Healing Center. I moved to New Orleans from the Northshore in the summer of 2013, and was looking for a way to give to my new community. As a writer and long-time tutor, Big Class met all my criteria for meaningful community involvement.
What keeps you coming back?
Cliché as it sounds–the kids. I don’t have nieces or nephews, and I can’t say I interact with children a lot in my daily life. To be honest, most social interaction is terrifying– I’m such a dork! But if you open up to the kids, they really open up and trust you. Sharing art is a super personal exchange, so they really want you to be their best friend. After just a few weeks, it got to the point that if I missed a scheduled day, I would come the next week and hear them say, “Where were you last week?” I like hanging out with them, they like hanging out with me, and those are good enough reasons to show up.
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
My mom is an educator on the Northshore. One of the things she taught me is to never condescend to children. I always speak truthfully and exercise patience with our students. But the thing that helps me most is not being afraid to be weird! I can talk about comic books, cartoons, and Internet jokes with the kids and they love sharing it with me. You don’t have to be a fantastic writer to be impactful, you just have to be there, be available, and be real.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
For me, it was finding a way to tackle really serious issues the children write about in a way that validates their feelings and experiences. This year, a lot of students wrote about the #blacklivesmatter movement and how they felt being children of color in the United States. I helped a third grade student with an in-school project where I learned her mother was incarcerated; this girl had watched her be taken in custody in a really brutal way. I don’t have an experience remotely similar to that. Even if I did, it was about her, so I listened, and helped her write about it. Encouraging children to write about “tough stuff” comes with the challenge of telling children, who are so used to being told to censor themselves, that it’s okay to write about difficult subjects and that their words have value and power to create social change.
What are some great projects you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
I think the best project was helping three students in Open Studio write their own book – together! Collaborative writing can be really difficult, and they came up with this idea, but didn’t really know how to execute it fairly. (Worse, it was about a wedding and a horrible mother-in-law, so I had to get three girls to agree on details of a fictional wedding.) It wasn’t your usual “group project” because there’s no clear objectives that have to be met. So a lot of it was teaching them how to build community with each other, and respect the agency of each person involved. I work with an organization, Wildseeds, that is all about building community and space with each other, so I was able to share some of those concepts with a really talented group of young black women. I hope they write more together in the future, because the end result was a fantastic piece!
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
One of my favorite past-times is biking around the Seventh Ward and spotting cats. I also spend a good bit of time working on my writing portfolio. I’m working on a piece about Steven Universe, race, and feminism that I’m hoping to share in the near future! Right now, it’s preparing to teach in Boston! As a native to Southern Louisiana, I’m not very excited about snow or Mark Wahlberg sightings, but I am excited to start serving and advocating for another community so much like my own here. I plan on helping to educate some “wicked smaht” young people.
Volunteer of the Month: August 2015
Congrats to our August Volunteer of the Month, Glynnis Ritchie! Read our interview with Glynnis:
What first brought you to Big Class?
I live in the neighborhood and was excited for an opportunity to get involved in the community and meet other volunteers. I love to implant myself in the local art community wherever I am–especially if it’s one that is focused on cultivating a passion for expression and the arts in youth.
What keeps you coming back?
I love the people! Big Class staff and volunteers are such a fun, creative group. I haven’t had as much opportunity to work directly with youth due to my work schedule, but whenever I get the chance to interact with them I have a great time. The opportunity to support and uplift young artists who have a lot to say is truly a gift, and I think of my work with Big Class as a way to pay back all the artists, writers, and mentors who supported and uplifted me and my work when I was young. Plus, I leap at any chance to read work by the writers and students at Big Class–their talents make me think about my own experiences and creative expression in a new way.
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
I helped design the Pizza Poetry 2015 anthology, along with a number of event posters and social media images. I also have experience designing and publishing on the web, which was helpful to draw on in getting the word out, promoting, and documenting Pizza Poetry this year. By far the most esoteric skill I’ve put to good use with Big Class has been calligraphy–once I addressed over 100 formal invitations by hand for a Big Class event!
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
Finding a way to motivate people to give their time, money, and attention to Big Class keeps me thinking. There are so many ways to get involved (and Big Class is the best!), but competing for people’s limited attention can be hard. That’s something I try to keep in mind whenever I’m trying to get the word out, planning an event, or designing posters for Big Class.
What are some great projects you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
With a team of other volunteers, I helped run the Pizza Poetry blog this year. We concocted lots of ideas for how to promote Pizza Poetry, increase engagement online, and document the excitement of receiving a poem on a box of pizza. We decided to interview owners of participating pizza places about Pizza Poetry and feature their answers on the blog. I conducted a few of the interviews myself, and the answers from owners about why they chose to participate totally, unexpectedly, blew me away! Their support and excitement about young poets in our community inspired me.
Helping with fundraising has also been fun. For GiveNOLA Day, I encouraged my friends and family to donate to Big Class and offered little “lagniappes” for different dollar amounts as a way to say thank you. Secretly, it was a scheme to kick start some of my own creative activities. Some of the “lagniappes” included custom calligraphy, handmade books, and handmade greeting cards. I was surprised at who was motivated to donate, and enjoyed the opportunity to crank out some creative work of my own on behalf of Big Class.
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
I often joke with my friends that I collect hobbies. I’m especially fond of more tactile, antiquated hobbies since I work full time as a web designer and software developer; sometimes it’s nice to get away from the “glowing rectangles” I spend so much time staring at for a living. Just to name a few from my hobby collection: ceramics, book binding, paper craft, mail art, tabletop gaming, calligraphy and lettering, videography, photography, and knitting. I read voraciously–comic books, non-fiction, poetry, you name it. I’m a self-proclaimed tea connaisseur (ask me about my yi xing teapot collection), and a Francophile to boot. The local music scene in New Orleans keeps me sane, and I hope that soon I can add “swing dancing” to the list.
Volunteer of the Month: May 2015
Congrats to our May Volunteer of the Month, Alvin David! Read our interview with Alvin:
What first brought you to Big Class?
I can’t quite remember, but I think it was shortly after I had just moved to New Orleans in 2012, and I heard about this group working with youth and writing. I enjoy poetry and wrote a bit through college, and wanted a way to connect that interest with the local education scene.
What keeps you coming back?
The smiles of the students and families. It is so validating to our work to see young people and the community celebrate students’ own voices and literary creations.
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
When I work with students, I try to listen as much as I can. It’s critical that our students know that we are paying attention and are genuinely interested in their work. When working with volunteers, I try to ask myself what I can do to increase sharing and collaboration in our planning.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
I’d say right now we’re facing some inspirational goals around fundraising to be able to continue working with our students and communities. It’s a totally different side of non-profit development that is personally pushing my thinking and the way we think about bringing more people into the Big Class family.
What are some great pieces of writing you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
I’ve recently been helping behind the scenes with some fundraising efforts since my work schedule doesn’t always allow me to help during in-school or open studio hours. I love seeing our work and our mission communicated in the community and in social media, and and am excited to see our messages amplified!
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
I try to be and out about in the community for all kinds of education-related events, and there’s a good chance you’ll see me working at Mojo’s on Freret late in the evenings or reading at the Fly on the weekends.
Volunteer of the Month: April 2015
Congrats to our April Volunteer of the Month, Raven Crane! Read our interview with Raven here:
What first brought you to Big Class?
What first brought me to Big Class was Big Classmate Jenna Knoblach. She purchased a pizza with Pizza Poetry on it. I thought I really want to help out with something like this. That experience along with all her stories of how much fun she had volunteering!
What keeps you coming back?
What keeps me coming back to Big Class are the interesting projects and hearing all the creative stories Big Class students come up with. Along with all the volunteers who care about what they do!
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
My ability to making learning fun. Whether it’s helping the kids act out the story or thinking of more creative ways to brainstorm!
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
Not being able to do all the projects. But I do try to help out with as many as my schedule allows.
What are some great pieces of writing you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
It’s so hard to choose just one because the kids are so creative. I have heard stories about golden robot arms, a family of minions with lots of personality, and thoughtful poetry about butterflies. I can’t choose just one story!
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
I am teaching filmmaking to my fourth graders, working on personal film projects, or on a film set.
Volunteer of the Month: March 2015
Congrats to our March Volunteer of the Month, Kurston Melton! Read our interview with Kurston here:
What first brought you to Big Class?
I first heard about Big Class two years ago at the Culture Collision. I took a few postcards home and have them hanging on my fridge.
What keeps you coming back?
Being able to share my love and excitement for writing. I started writing poetry and non-fiction in elementary school for fun. Then a summer at Writing Camp sparked my interest even more. As I got older I stopped writing less and less until I didn’t at all except for school papers. After learning about Big Class the same excitement for writing came back and well…here I am.
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
Creativity. Sense of humor. Enthusiasm. Love for working with kids. Patience.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
Finding more time in my schedule to volunteer more often.
What are some great pieces of writing you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
When I first started volunteering I helped with the Basquiat workshop. It was beautiful watching the kids learn about art and the creative process as well as relating visual arts to film and writing. I also helped create the Robots book. That was a really fun project because I also wrote a piece that my boyfriend illustrated. Look forward to reading it!
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
I blog for a local publication, INVADE. I’m also the Account Manager for Where Y’art, a local online art community. I’ve also been helping the New Orleans Master Crafts Guild, an amazing non-profit that is working to preserve traditional craftsmanship so essential to New Orleans culture. And when I’m not doing all that I’m working on a few creative endeavors.
Volunteer of the Month: February 2016
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.
Volunteer of the Month: January 2016
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.
Volunteer of the Month: December 2015
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.
Volunteer of the Month: November 2015
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.
Volunteer of the Month: October 2015
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!!!
Volunteer of the Month: September 2015
Congrats to our September Volunteer of the Month, Zipporah Legarde! Read our interview with Zipporah:
What first brought you to Big Class?
I read about Big Class on a flyer at the Healing Center. I moved to New Orleans from the Northshore in the summer of 2013, and was looking for a way to give to my new community. As a writer and long-time tutor, Big Class met all my criteria for meaningful community involvement.
What keeps you coming back?
Cliché as it sounds–the kids. I don’t have nieces or nephews, and I can’t say I interact with children a lot in my daily life. To be honest, most social interaction is terrifying– I’m such a dork! But if you open up to the kids, they really open up and trust you. Sharing art is a super personal exchange, so they really want you to be their best friend. After just a few weeks, it got to the point that if I missed a scheduled day, I would come the next week and hear them say, “Where were you last week?” I like hanging out with them, they like hanging out with me, and those are good enough reasons to show up.
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
My mom is an educator on the Northshore. One of the things she taught me is to never condescend to children. I always speak truthfully and exercise patience with our students. But the thing that helps me most is not being afraid to be weird! I can talk about comic books, cartoons, and Internet jokes with the kids and they love sharing it with me. You don’t have to be a fantastic writer to be impactful, you just have to be there, be available, and be real.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
For me, it was finding a way to tackle really serious issues the children write about in a way that validates their feelings and experiences. This year, a lot of students wrote about the #blacklivesmatter movement and how they felt being children of color in the United States. I helped a third grade student with an in-school project where I learned her mother was incarcerated; this girl had watched her be taken in custody in a really brutal way. I don’t have an experience remotely similar to that. Even if I did, it was about her, so I listened, and helped her write about it. Encouraging children to write about “tough stuff” comes with the challenge of telling children, who are so used to being told to censor themselves, that it’s okay to write about difficult subjects and that their words have value and power to create social change.
What are some great projects you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
I think the best project was helping three students in Open Studio write their own book – together! Collaborative writing can be really difficult, and they came up with this idea, but didn’t really know how to execute it fairly. (Worse, it was about a wedding and a horrible mother-in-law, so I had to get three girls to agree on details of a fictional wedding.) It wasn’t your usual “group project” because there’s no clear objectives that have to be met. So a lot of it was teaching them how to build community with each other, and respect the agency of each person involved. I work with an organization, Wildseeds, that is all about building community and space with each other, so I was able to share some of those concepts with a really talented group of young black women. I hope they write more together in the future, because the end result was a fantastic piece!
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
One of my favorite past-times is biking around the Seventh Ward and spotting cats. I also spend a good bit of time working on my writing portfolio. I’m working on a piece about Steven Universe, race, and feminism that I’m hoping to share in the near future! Right now, it’s preparing to teach in Boston! As a native to Southern Louisiana, I’m not very excited about snow or Mark Wahlberg sightings, but I am excited to start serving and advocating for another community so much like my own here. I plan on helping to educate some “wicked smaht” young people.
Volunteer of the Month: August 2015
Congrats to our August Volunteer of the Month, Glynnis Ritchie! Read our interview with Glynnis:
What first brought you to Big Class?
I live in the neighborhood and was excited for an opportunity to get involved in the community and meet other volunteers. I love to implant myself in the local art community wherever I am–especially if it’s one that is focused on cultivating a passion for expression and the arts in youth.
What keeps you coming back?
I love the people! Big Class staff and volunteers are such a fun, creative group. I haven’t had as much opportunity to work directly with youth due to my work schedule, but whenever I get the chance to interact with them I have a great time. The opportunity to support and uplift young artists who have a lot to say is truly a gift, and I think of my work with Big Class as a way to pay back all the artists, writers, and mentors who supported and uplifted me and my work when I was young. Plus, I leap at any chance to read work by the writers and students at Big Class–their talents make me think about my own experiences and creative expression in a new way.
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
I helped design the Pizza Poetry 2015 anthology, along with a number of event posters and social media images. I also have experience designing and publishing on the web, which was helpful to draw on in getting the word out, promoting, and documenting Pizza Poetry this year. By far the most esoteric skill I’ve put to good use with Big Class has been calligraphy–once I addressed over 100 formal invitations by hand for a Big Class event!
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
Finding a way to motivate people to give their time, money, and attention to Big Class keeps me thinking. There are so many ways to get involved (and Big Class is the best!), but competing for people’s limited attention can be hard. That’s something I try to keep in mind whenever I’m trying to get the word out, planning an event, or designing posters for Big Class.
What are some great projects you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
With a team of other volunteers, I helped run the Pizza Poetry blog this year. We concocted lots of ideas for how to promote Pizza Poetry, increase engagement online, and document the excitement of receiving a poem on a box of pizza. We decided to interview owners of participating pizza places about Pizza Poetry and feature their answers on the blog. I conducted a few of the interviews myself, and the answers from owners about why they chose to participate totally, unexpectedly, blew me away! Their support and excitement about young poets in our community inspired me.
Helping with fundraising has also been fun. For GiveNOLA Day, I encouraged my friends and family to donate to Big Class and offered little “lagniappes” for different dollar amounts as a way to say thank you. Secretly, it was a scheme to kick start some of my own creative activities. Some of the “lagniappes” included custom calligraphy, handmade books, and handmade greeting cards. I was surprised at who was motivated to donate, and enjoyed the opportunity to crank out some creative work of my own on behalf of Big Class.
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
I often joke with my friends that I collect hobbies. I’m especially fond of more tactile, antiquated hobbies since I work full time as a web designer and software developer; sometimes it’s nice to get away from the “glowing rectangles” I spend so much time staring at for a living. Just to name a few from my hobby collection: ceramics, book binding, paper craft, mail art, tabletop gaming, calligraphy and lettering, videography, photography, and knitting. I read voraciously–comic books, non-fiction, poetry, you name it. I’m a self-proclaimed tea connaisseur (ask me about my yi xing teapot collection), and a Francophile to boot. The local music scene in New Orleans keeps me sane, and I hope that soon I can add “swing dancing” to the list.
Volunteer of the Month: May 2015
Congrats to our May Volunteer of the Month, Alvin David! Read our interview with Alvin:
What first brought you to Big Class?
I can’t quite remember, but I think it was shortly after I had just moved to New Orleans in 2012, and I heard about this group working with youth and writing. I enjoy poetry and wrote a bit through college, and wanted a way to connect that interest with the local education scene.
What keeps you coming back?
The smiles of the students and families. It is so validating to our work to see young people and the community celebrate students’ own voices and literary creations.
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
When I work with students, I try to listen as much as I can. It’s critical that our students know that we are paying attention and are genuinely interested in their work. When working with volunteers, I try to ask myself what I can do to increase sharing and collaboration in our planning.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
I’d say right now we’re facing some inspirational goals around fundraising to be able to continue working with our students and communities. It’s a totally different side of non-profit development that is personally pushing my thinking and the way we think about bringing more people into the Big Class family.
What are some great pieces of writing you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
I’ve recently been helping behind the scenes with some fundraising efforts since my work schedule doesn’t always allow me to help during in-school or open studio hours. I love seeing our work and our mission communicated in the community and in social media, and and am excited to see our messages amplified!
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
I try to be and out about in the community for all kinds of education-related events, and there’s a good chance you’ll see me working at Mojo’s on Freret late in the evenings or reading at the Fly on the weekends.
Volunteer of the Month: April 2015
Congrats to our April Volunteer of the Month, Raven Crane! Read our interview with Raven here:
What first brought you to Big Class?
What first brought me to Big Class was Big Classmate Jenna Knoblach. She purchased a pizza with Pizza Poetry on it. I thought I really want to help out with something like this. That experience along with all her stories of how much fun she had volunteering!
What keeps you coming back?
What keeps me coming back to Big Class are the interesting projects and hearing all the creative stories Big Class students come up with. Along with all the volunteers who care about what they do!
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
My ability to making learning fun. Whether it’s helping the kids act out the story or thinking of more creative ways to brainstorm!
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
Not being able to do all the projects. But I do try to help out with as many as my schedule allows.
What are some great pieces of writing you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
It’s so hard to choose just one because the kids are so creative. I have heard stories about golden robot arms, a family of minions with lots of personality, and thoughtful poetry about butterflies. I can’t choose just one story!
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
I am teaching filmmaking to my fourth graders, working on personal film projects, or on a film set.
Volunteer of the Month: March 2015
Congrats to our March Volunteer of the Month, Kurston Melton! Read our interview with Kurston here:
What first brought you to Big Class?
I first heard about Big Class two years ago at the Culture Collision. I took a few postcards home and have them hanging on my fridge.
What keeps you coming back?
Being able to share my love and excitement for writing. I started writing poetry and non-fiction in elementary school for fun. Then a summer at Writing Camp sparked my interest even more. As I got older I stopped writing less and less until I didn’t at all except for school papers. After learning about Big Class the same excitement for writing came back and well…here I am.
What are some skills you have that help you out at Big Class?
Creativity. Sense of humor. Enthusiasm. Love for working with kids. Patience.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced at Big Class?
Finding more time in my schedule to volunteer more often.
What are some great pieces of writing you’ve helped with? Tell us the story behind them if you can.
When I first started volunteering I helped with the Basquiat workshop. It was beautiful watching the kids learn about art and the creative process as well as relating visual arts to film and writing. I also helped create the Robots book. That was a really fun project because I also wrote a piece that my boyfriend illustrated. Look forward to reading it!
What are you up to when you’re not volunteering with us?
I blog for a local publication, INVADE. I’m also the Account Manager for Where Y’art, a local online art community. I’ve also been helping the New Orleans Master Crafts Guild, an amazing non-profit that is working to preserve traditional craftsmanship so essential to New Orleans culture. And when I’m not doing all that I’m working on a few creative endeavors.
