MSU grant winner teaches new generation of storytellers

Jonathon Quam wants today’s children to learn how to be community storytellers.

His quest took him to Hawaii in July where, as the recipient of the Bice Faculty Support Grant, he worked with children at the Pā’ia Youth and Cultural Center to teach them how to tell the story of the center and its history.

The Bice grant is a sabbatical program that allows a faculty member of the Lamar D. Fain College of Fine Arts or the Prothro-Yeager College of Humanities and Social Sciences at MSU Texas to spend time at retired physician Dr. Paul Bice’s Hawaii home. Quam is associate professor of mass communication at Midwestern State University.

He took his professional camera equipment and, during a three-day Community Storytelling documentary workshop, he instructed the 9-15-year-olds at the youth center on interviewing techniques and how to use the cameras.

The children learned about camera and drone operations and technical aspects of documentary filmmaking using professional equipment. They scheduled interviews with adult community leaders and shot footage of the interviews.

More:Once a troubled teen, MSU grad reaches out to kids through art

Quam also worked on his documentary projects.

“We’re training the children to be community storytellers so that they can tell their own stories, rather than outsiders telling it for them,” he said.

It wasn’t just the children who learned. Quam says the experience helped him to see new ways to teach, and a new way of recruiting prospective students. His time in Hawaii also gave him a “moment of pause” that he says is hard to find now.

“We’re always on a constant go, go, go cycle. It was good to be away from that,” Quam said.

He is putting together a documentary of his experiences in Hawaii.

The purpose of the Pā’ia Youth and Cultural Center on Maui is to provide a safe place for the youth of Pā’ia and its surrounding communities. It offers a variety of social, educational, cultural, vocational and recreational activities.

The purpose has evolved from offering programs and activities to putting a face and a voice on the youth and assisting them in being an important and integral part of the community.

More:Long-held dream to teach elementary comes true for WFISD educator

Quam’s project proposal, “My Community, My Story,” fits with the youth center’s mission.

The Bice grant creates an opportunity to support faculty members' work in the arts, humanities and social sciences to enhance research, artistic endeavors, performance and teaching.

Bice offers his Maui home plus additional funding and provisions for 10 to 14 days.

Bice served as a community adviser for the university’s radiologic sciences program for several years and is a longtime member of the President’s Excellence Circle.

“By joining the PEC, I learned more about the opportunities at MSU,” said Bice. “I was able to meet students and faculty, hear their stories, and learn how financial aid and grants help them.”

Although Bice’s discipline was rooted in the sciences, he is passionate about the development of the mind through the arts and humanities.

“For the people coming to Maui, I want this to serve as inspiration and renewal of their creativity and to be a true respite for artists,” Bice said.

Faculty members interested in participating in the program are required to submit a one-page description of how the time on Maui will be used to advance them professionally, either in their teaching, creative endeavors or research.

Quam is still editing the final version of the documentary but has posted a rough cut on YouTube. He has also posted a video of sights and sounds from his time in Maui.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: MSU grant winner teaches new generation of storytellers