PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Young kids got a chance to be storytellers in Old City this weekend, as a contest brought schoolchildren to Historic Philadelphia.
For the Once Upon a Nation Future Storytellers contest, kids ages 8 to 12 were invited to send a story of their favorite real-life hero or heroine.
“Then they spend all day with a Once Upon a Nation storyteller on their bench, bringing their story to life,” said Amy Needle, president and CEO of Historic Philadelphia.
The Once Upon a Nation program employs storytellers to regale tourists at storytelling benches situated throughout Old City with tales of real people and events that occurred in the city.
After a morning storytelling workshop, 9-year-old Franny was not at all shy about telling guests about her chosen historic heroine.
“Roger Arlener Young was born in 1899. She was the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in zoology,” she told visitors.
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Needle says before hitting the benches, the kids learned how to deliver their stories to tourists. “Storytelling is at its heart such a wonderful way of learning about history. We hear from parents all the time, what a great learning experience the storytelling benches are. And so we wanted to continue to inspire visitors and kids especially and have them learn about the magic of storytelling,” she said.
They did so with the help of Geofrey Berwind, artistic and storytelling director with Historic Philadelphia, who says stories are important learning tools. “They've measured that people remember stories more than information and it's an entertaining way to learn stuff,” he said.
“An amazing story should have conflict. It should be a central scene where there's something big that happened, some transformation,” he explained.
Later, New York tourist Dan Kimmel got to hear Franny tell her story. “You know, they pick really interesting people, people I would never otherwise have heard of,” he said.
At the end of the day, Franny learned that a good story isn’t just about writing. “I learned that if you kind of act it out a little it makes them really invested, the people who are listening.”
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