Nine years ago a team of eight teachers—alumni and students of Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English—began to design a way to connect Vermont secondary students (middle and high school) from across the state to work together to identify, pursue, and advocate for the social issues that matter to them.
At the time, Vermont’s legislature had recently passed Act 77 (aka Flexible Pathways legislation), designed to encourage students and schools to begin thinking more flexibly about when, where, and how our students learn and earn credit.
With these powerful political winds at our back, we designed What’s the Story? The Vermont Young People Social Action Team (WTS), a year-long course that provides middle & high school students with the tools, resources, and expertise they need to pursue their questions, collaborate with peers across the state and nation, and create compelling multi-media narratives that provoke change in their communities.
During the pandemic, WTS widened its reach, inviting students and educators from around the country to join the now fully-virtual experience. The 2022-2023 cohort has included students from Wyoming, South Carolina, New Mexico, and Vermont. WTS remains a virtual program, though we do gather these young filmmakers in June at Champlain College to celebrate their films and all they’ve learned.
We are awed by the transformative impact–on students and educators–of inviting adolescent learners to work together to make the world a better place. We are also humbled by the vast amount of resources–human, fiscal, and in-kind contributions–that go into making WTS work. We’re currently in our final year of funding and seeking funding to continue WTS. Got a connection that might help this effort? Please email us at whatsthestoryvt@gmail.com.
Here are some additional resources to help you learn more about What’s the Story?
- What’s WTS?
- Their Films
- What Matters Most (aka Outcomes)
- “Disruption in the Classroom.” Middlebury Magazine. Fall 2016.
- “Screen Doors: Five Tech Programs Opening up New Worlds for Kids.” Kids VT. October 2016. Five innovative programs leveraging technology in innovative ways in Vermont.