The annual 7th and 8th grade Ram Impact Summit (RISE) was full of storytelling on Monday. That’s because this year’s theme was “Honoring Each Others Stories: Hear Mine, Hear Yours”.
Director of Faculty Equity and Inclusion and Director of Student Activities Erica Moore opened this year’s summit and encouraged students to embrace their own stories and be open to listening to the stories of others.
Storytelling at RISE kicked off by MICDS Coordinator of Community Engagement and Olympic Medalist Mr. Greg Foster. For the rest of the summit, students took the time to share, embrace and listen to one another’s stories. They participated in four sessions, opening and closing remarks, discussion, an open mic opportunity and performances by the Upper School Playback Theatre Troupe.
Playback theatre, based on the stories of audiences, brings the teller’s story to life through interaction. There are no scripts. The MICDS playback members included Labrill Collins ’19, Bryce Berry ’19, Charlie Southern ’19, Aakarsh Rai ’20, Mereya Riopedre ’20, Alysha Ford ’20 and Ananya Radhakrishnan ’21.
As Australian Author, athlete, aerobatic pilot and spinal cord injury overcomer, Janine Shepard writes, “When we share our stories, what it does is, it opens up our hearts for other people to share their stories. And it gives us the sense that we are not alone on this journey.”
Thank you to our 7th and 8th grade classes for continuing to rise by really listening to each other, knowing each other, respecting one another and supporting one another!