The NYU Washington, DC StoryCorps initiative is a multimedia student-driven initiative that tells the stories of NYU Washington, DC, through the students, staff, and surrounding area. The initiative started in Spring of 2017 and has grown. Students develop their individual programs, choosing their medium and storylines. All of the StoryCorps content is hosted here.Previous programs have included:
My Friend on the Hill – A podcast exploring the behind the scenes experiences of student interns on the hill.
Humans of NYU DC – A Humans of New York City style portrait and short story.
NYU DC Violets – A student newspaper that has current events, opinions, creative writing, reviews, art work, and other media.
Music Dump – Original student compositions.
Talk the Walk – A podcast focusing on advocacy work by NYU DC students and within DC.
The StoryCorps initiative was developed by the former Student Life Manager, Brian Cheng Dooley, and as part of the NYU Washington, DC building-wide Intersections Initiative. The Intersections Initiative is a year long program that allows students to explore their social and personal identities and find community within the NYU Washington, DC building. The StoryCorps program is part of this initiative that allows students to utilize their creative abilities and connecting the building through our student’s stories.
The students can elect to participate in two different ways, as initiative leaders or as guest content producers. Student leaders partner with one or two other students to lead their respective program. This included choosing the content medium, their mission statement, they set their own group deadlines and priorities, produce content, go through leadership training, and work with their guest content producers to set their requirements and ensure they are complying with their obligations. Guest content producers focus solely on limited production, typically single issue works, under the direction of the student leaders.
The theme of their content is set by the student leaders based on individual preference, identified student and community needs, and to share part of their own personal story. For example, “Humans of NYU DC” and “NYU DC Violets” were developed to utilize the varied skills of all of the content producers, “Twosday Trendcast” was developed because both student leaders loved all things popular culture, and “My Friend on the Hill” was developed to share the “typical DC hill-tern” experience with students that choose to explore a different aspect of DC. We allow students free range to explore anything they are passionate about.
Students have really connected with the StoryCorps initiative. They’ve been able to utilize a wide range of different skills while building connections throughout the community. For instance, the podcast “My Friend on the Hill” was a group of good friends that took the opportunity to structure their talks and meet with other student interns and political experts to share their communal experiences and the differences between offices. NYU Washington, DC students have also developed personal portfolios and leadership skills through this initiative. Some students have gone on to reference their StoryCorps portfolios in other opportunities in both NYU and in their professional fields.