Everyone has a dream. High school is a time to find a passion, but for most students it is hard to get motivated. Antioch Community High School promotes creativity and passion. To do so every year, the high school hosts an event called Storytellers. Storytellers, once known as Writers Week, is an annual celebration of the arts. From poetry to improv, Storytellers has been inspiring the students of ACHS since 2015.
Talented artists promote creativity through workshops and performances. Artists from all over the state take time out of their busy schedules to come to ACHS to share about their careers.
Storytellers will be Feb. 14-17. The website, Storytellers, was created by Samantha Kanya, an English teacher here at ACHS.
“I helped put the website together so it shows all of our different performers, has our workshops organized on there so that students can see who’s going to be here and what workshops are available to them.” Kanya said.
The celebration of the arts is put on by the ACHS English department; the celebration would not be possible without Jamie D’Andrea. D’Andrea spends months every year working on the line up for Storytellers with assistance from other English teachers.
Storytellers is arranged into four separate days. Sixteen talented artists come in and give presentations about their skills. A traditional day includes presentations by authors, poets and playwrights. These are more customary writers. Then non-traditional days entail speeches by actors, song-writers, and film-makers.
“On that non-traditional day, we have a filmmaker coming and we have a dance troupe coming; We usually try to bring in at least one improv group because students like it,” D’Andrea said. “This year, we have a magician coming. We have musical storytellers on the last day, so that’s when we bring in the bands and the singers and the musicians.”
Storytellers is not just a week of presentations by artists, it means something. It is connecting, diving deeper and being inspired by creativity. As a student being shown that the individuality of their imagination is valuable makes a big difference in their life.
Creativity is important, it gives students an outlet for emotions, for thoughts that are hard to say out loud. Teenagers are sometimes told, “the sky’s the limit,” but a part of the time they feel differently. Students are worried about what college to go to, a way to get good grades, and a career that will make good money, even if it is not what they want to do. This causes some students to become easily overwhelmed; however, teenagers are not always taught how to properly deal with emotions.
“We want our students to walk away with either a greater appreciation for storytelling just as an art form in general, or for them to feel like their horizons have been expanded.” Kanya said.
ACHS proves that talent and creativity are valuable, that if people set their mind to something they can achieve it. Storytellers inspires people, it shapes the way students think about their talents. It reminds students that they can do anything they are passionate about, even if it is not viewed as practical. Storytellers lead by example, bringing in people that went above and beyond with their aspirations, proving that students, and their passions, are valuable.
