The Atlanta StoryCorps team conducted outreach recordings at WONDERroot, a community arts organization in Reynoldstown, an Atlanta neighborhood. Along with facilitator Lola Ibitoye, I had the pleasure of recording a few of the young people involved with WONDERroot and the Atlanta arts community.

A few weeks later, we were invited back to WONDERroot to participate in Raising All Youth Voices, a youth media night. The event was a collaboration between WONDERroot, VOX Teen Newspaper, Fuel Media, and StoryCorps. The event showcased the amazing work of teens in the Atlanta area. These phenomenal teens wowed the audience with a variety of talents which included a spicy salsa dance routine, sensational spoken word presentations, and a live band. VOX, the teen newspaper, had a very strong presence in the evening’s events and distributed their periodicals to all the guests.

Among the food, mingling, and fun, guests were encouraged to visit the many stations set up throughout the Center. One included television feeds that featured debates that many of the teens had recorded with local Atlanta television channels. Another station aired video footage the teens had produced and recorded themselves. StoryCorps set up a listening booth inside WONDERroot’s recording studio. The booth generated so much interest that many of the teens asked if they could volunteer with StoryCorps in the future!

The VOX teens took a special interest in our presence that evening and interviewed Lola and I about StoryCorps and our work with youth and the Atlanta community. Overall, the evening was a wonderful opportunity to witness the depth of these young peoples’ talents and the power of the teen voice.