Each year, EchoX’s DIGITIZE hosts a paid workshop opportunity for Washington State high school students to learn storytelling skills that centers around “own voices,” a central theme of unity and understanding across cultures (and community). Student participants in this workshop receive compensation upon submission of their final piece, either a minimum 1000-word article or a roughly three-minute audio piece.
Our 2025 Story Gathering Workshop will run from July to August. Applications are now open! You can read about the workshop experience in this article by two of our pilot program students.
2024 Story Gathering Workshop Pieces:
Somali Folktales by Bilal
Christmas At My House: Celebrating with Argentinian and Puerto Rican Flavors by Lilian
Somali Clothing by Khadija
Roots of Faith and Family by Seybane
2023 Story Gathering Workshop Pieces:
On Being a Ukrainian American Teenager in 2023 by Emma
The Pressure to Excel — The East Asian Experience With Academic Validation by Emily
It Looks Just Like Heaven by Gabby
On Being Latino in Computer Science and Systemic Barriers by Isabel
The Fijian Life by Jada
A Look into Somalia’s Representation in Film by Jehan
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders: We are not the same by Kahea
Growing Up in a Mixed-Latin Household: How My Family’s Core Beliefs and Experiences Impact Me Today by Lilian
Koryo-Saram: A Story About the Unreliable People by Taya
2025 Details:
The workshop kicks off with three in-person sessions at Washington Hall where students will learn a variety of skills such as how to conduct a thoughtful interview, the importance of language choice in media, identity mapping, and how to give critical feedback. During these sessions, students will also have time to brainstorm concepts for their project and work on a first draft. Students will then attend a fourth group session and four virtual one-on-ones where they will workshop their pieces with the instructor.
The workshop concludes with an in-person showcase at Washington Hall where students invite their interview subjects, friends, and family to watch them present their piece. Part of the showcase will include students sitting on a panel to answer audience questions, moderated by EchoX staff. After the closing showcase, students who have participated in all required sessions, submitted a completed piece ready for publication, and completed an exist survey will receive a certificate of completion and a $500 stipend for their work.
All completed student pieces will be published on Voices, EchoX’s news and features feed. Each piece will also be rotated through the EchoX homepage as a feature based on a schedule picked by the students.
REQUIREMENTS
To apply, students must:
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- Be in high school (incoming freshman and graduating seniors are welcome).
- Reside in the Seattle area OR be able to attend all in-person sessions held at Washington Hall.
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Over the course of three weeks, students will:
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- Attend four in-person group meetings (1-1.5 hours/each),
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- Schedule and attend a minimum of four virtual one-on-ones with the instructor (1 hour/each),
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- Write a minimum 1000-word piece that relates to their ethnic culture (community, family, or self/identity),
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- Prepare a five-minute presentation on their work,
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- Attend and present at an in-person showcase featuring all students and their work (3 hours), including two preparation meetings, and
- Complete an evaluation survey at the end of the program.
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Students are not to use ChatGPT or any other form of AI during their participation in the workshop. EchoX considers the use of AI in creative work to be equivalent to plagiarism and cheating and it is not tolerated.
2025 Schedule:
The workshop will run from July 22 to August 10. All in-person sessions will be located at Washington Hall.
- July 22 (in-person): Introduction to the program, 2:30-3:30pm
- July 23 (in-person): Anatomy of a story, 2:30-3:30pm
- July 24 (in-person): Interviews, research, and trust, oh my!, 2:30-3:30pm
- July 29 (in-person): Finding commonality, 2:30-3:30pm
- July 25–August 6 (virtual): One-on-ones
- Students will have 1.5 weeks to schedule and attend four (4) hour-long meetings
- August 5 (in-person): Showcase preparation, 2:30-3:30pm
- August 8 (in-person): Showcase dress rehearsal, 2:30-3:30pm
- August 10 (in-person): Final showcase, 1:30-3:30pm
Meet the 2023, 2025 instructor:
Kathryn Lam (Anigiduwagi, enrolled Cherokee Nation) grew up in a multicultural home in Seattle, WA, and loves experiencing new things and learning new ways of life. She is driven by multicultural digital storytelling and strives to create a world where the celebration of our differences is what brings us together. At EchoX, she works to bring together people from diverse backgrounds and cultures through story and mutual understanding. Being able to understand and see how cultures interact with each other has driven her towards international, multicultural experiences. She has worked abroad as an English language and culture teacher at a high school in France and as an editor for international Ph.D. candidates in Denmark and the Netherlands. Back home in the U.S., this work has seen her in multifaceted spaces as a communications associate for Seattle Indian Health Board and Urban Indian Health Institute and as a French language and culture tutor for all ages. She created “Story Gathering: Workshop” to fulfill a gap she felt in her own youth and education while growing up in Seattle. In her spare time, Kathryn enjoys cooking and baking recipes from her family in Malaysia and her host family in France.
Meet the 2024 instructor:
Troy Landrum Jr. is a native of Indianapolis, IN and has lived in Seattle, WA for 10 years. His passion for reading and writing bloomed as he navigated a path of self-rediscovery through identity, faith, culture and his family’s migration stories from Jim Crow South to the Midwest. These intersections are at the helm of his human experience and literature process as a Black artist and oral historian. Troy graduated with a Masters in Fine Arts at the University of Washington Bothell and is currently a free lance storytelling consultant, a freelance journalist for the South Seattle Emerald, and a Novelist. His novel In Progress explores the question of “Home” through the Historical American time period of The Great Migration. A period in American history where millions of African American people moved from the South to Northern and Midwestern cities. He dedicates his work to the brilliance of African American History and the brilliance of his family history through the work of literature and preservation. He is very excited to join the EchoX team and share in the magic that they have created through the Story Gathering series.
How to Apply:
Applications for the 2025 Story Gathering Workshop are now open! Apply today!
If you want to be notified for our next opportunity, join our mailing list!
Questions, comments, or concerns? Email info@echox.org and a member of our team will get back to you shortly. Interested in our youth opportunities? Check out our Instagram page for the latest announcements and updates.
This workshop is sponsored by the City of Seattle Youth Arts Fund. Thank you, Seattle!
