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Collecting Histories: IPR's Partnership With Young Journalists

Charley "Lou" Gilmore

Collecting Histories: IPR's Partnership With Young Journalists

IPR's Report for America corps member Kassidy Arena worked with middle school students from Main Street School in Norwalk on their "Collecting History" projects.
Ways to Connect
Stories Students About the Project
Stories
Listen here
  • In The Life Of A Hula Dancer
    Ekiwah Dunn Young interviewed his mom Ilima Young-Dunn about life as a hula dancer. She has been dancing for more than 20 years.
  • Morse Code: Vietnam
    In this interview, Emmett Apana-Stipe's grandpa Mel Apana shares his experience as a Morse code interpreter in Vietnam.
  • Life of a Pharmacist
    Hayden Batt interviewed his grandpa Fred Miller about his life as a pharmacist and a medic in World War II. Over 80 years later, he gives us deep insight about this unique life.
  • A POW In World War II
    Kate Friedman interviewed her grandpa Bill Kees about his dad being a prisoner of war (POW) in World War II. His story starts when he is about to jump out of a plane.
  • In The Life Of A Therapist
    In this interview, Jane Gilmore asks Jennifer Gilmore about her job working as a therapist. It was different from her old job of being a social worker.
  • Six Strokes
    In this interview, Katie Brogan interviews Tom Brogan about his very traumatic incident. He claims that he is still very grateful to still be alive. Listen to this podcast to get the full story.
  • The Life Of A Doctor
    This story is about Megan Green interviewing her dad Tom Green about his years becoming a doctor. He talked about how COVID-19 has affected his job.
About the Students
Emmett Apana-Stipe
Main Street School
Emmett Apana-Stipe is an 11-year-old student at Main Street School. Emmett enjoys sports, and is a very active person who also enjoys art when he has time.

Hayden Batt
Main Street School
Hayden Batt is a 14-year-old at Main Street School. He likes to play videos games and art.

Graphic by Charley "Lou" Gilmore
Katie Brogan is a 12-year-old at Main Street School. In her free time, she enjoys writing songs, singing, listening to music and making jewelry.

Ekiwah Dunn Young
Main Street School
Ekiwah Dunn Young is an 11-year-old Main Street student. Ekiwah, who is related to King Kamehameha of Hawaiian descent, enjoys the company of his ferrets.

Kate Friedman
Main Street School
Kate Friedman is a 13-year-old student at Main Street School. In her freetime, she enjoys dancing, spending time with friends and family and the outdoors.

Jane Gilmore
Main Street School
Jane Gilmore is a 15-year-old student at Main Street School. Jane loves painting, making rings and crafts in general.

Megan Green
Main Street School
Megan Green is a 15-year-old at Main Street School. She loves dogs, is athletic and is in two bowling leagues.

Charley "Lou" Gilmore
Main Street School
Charley "Lou" Gilmore enjoys graphic design and making animations. She designed and drew the "Collecting History" logo by hand.

About the Project
On the first day of her service project back in August 2020, IPR's Kassidy Arena worked with Main Street School Students on their interviewing skills. They asked Arena questions in a practice interview.
Tanya Apana
/
Main Street School
On the first day of her service project back in August 2020, IPR's Kassidy Arena worked with Main Street School students on their interviewing skills. They asked Arena questions in a practice interview.

IPR: Report for America Host Newsroom


Iowa Public Radio is a member newsroom of Report for America (RFA), a national service program that places reporters across the country so they may cover underrepresented communities and topics. It is an initiative from the nonprofit media organization The GroundTruth Project. It combines a generation of emerging journalists with the important work of local newsrooms. RFA has placed more than 200 journalists in beats in 46 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.

IPR's Kassidy Arena works with student Megan Green, 15, on her audio project. Arena is IPR's Report for America corps member, which requires a service project that helps shape the next generation of journalists.
Tanya Apana
/
Main Street School
IPR's Kassidy Arena works with student Megan Green, 15, on her audio project. Arena is IPR's Report for America corps member, which requires a service project that helps shape the next generation of journalists.

All RFA corps members are required to volunteer their time to help develop the next generation of young journalists. IPR's corps member Kassidy Arena worked with middle school students from Main Street School in Norwalk, Iowa on their "Collecting History" projects.

When the weather was nice, IPR's Kassidy Arena met with Main Street School students outside to listen to their practice interviews on a portable speaker.
Tanya Apana
/
Main Street School
When the weather was nice, IPR's Kassidy Arena met with Main Street School students outside to listen to their practice interviews on a portable speaker.

Kassidy's Take


I was introduced to Main Street School through a colleague at Iowa Public Radio. When I met with my cooperating teacher, I knew working with middle school students would be a great way to not only help train the next generation of young journalists, but also to introduce journalism as a future career interest.

IPR's Kassidy Arena worked with students like 11-year-old Ekiwah Dunn Young to produce their recorded interviews into four-minute long StoryCorps-like audio pieces.
Tanya Apana
/
Main Street School
IPR's Kassidy Arena worked with students like 11-year-old Ekiwah Dunn Young to produce their recorded interviews into four-minute long StoryCorps-like audio pieces.

It was such an amazing opportunity to watch these young, inspired journalists develop their skills and ultimately produce a great year-long project. The students and I decided a collection of StoryCorps-like pieces would be a strong way to showcase their interviewing, story structure and producing skills. Every day, these talented students worked hard to make sure they could turn in the best possible product. I couldn't be more proud of their dedication and aspirations to become the next generation of truth-seekers.

Kassidy Arena
Kassidy Arena
Kassidy was a reporter based in Des Moines