The simple complexity of storytelling in youth programs

I’ve written about how Minnesota 4-H showcase experiences are connected to storytelling. However, we need a deeper exploration of storytelling to explain its role within youth programs. 

I defined storytelling as exploring one’s identity, progression and then somehow sharing that experience with others. This broad definition suggests storytelling is akin to capturing a human experience. 

Linda Dégh, who was a folklorist and professor of folklore and ethnomusicology at Indiana University, writes, “Description…of the subjects and the objectives of disciplines in the humanities is a constant concern. There are no established facts that satisfy all seekers, there are no theories that cannot be challenged.” 

Stories are not objects that can be owned or held, but rather experiences that can connect or divide, legacies that drive innovation or trap us in the past and connections that bring us together or tear us apart.

Does a story need to be told to have merit? This simple question sparks deep reflection on what exactly a story is. 

Is it only a story if shared? If no one hears it, does it exist? If told differently than remembered, is it the same story? For instance, if a youth gains valuable experiences from a leadership conference but never shares them, was there ever a story to tell?

What is a story, and what is telling?

A story simply is, but what makes storytelling complex is the relationship between the story and how it’s told.

I believe that the youth who attended the leadership conference indeed have a story. That story informs their thoughts; it is included in the vast pool of other stories that create their worldview. 

The worldview is an essential component of this complexity — it is what leads to youth participating in the world, and the actions that they take. At some point, that story directly impacts their actions, and those actions become part of the act of telling. There could be a whole myriad of stories intertwined, developed and forgotten in the process of one story’s starting point and the endpoint of telling. 

When you encounter youth in the program you work with, or the adults, stakeholders and community that provide the environment to our programs, ask yourself, “What is their story?”  

Stories are key components of our lived experiences. As such, they hold merit even when not told in a traditional format. Instead, stories exist in a paradoxical, unique space of constantly being acquired, told, retold, reshaped and combined with other stories. 

By asking, you set the mode of engagement where the teller of the story is the expert, empowering them to share beyond themselves and develop as a storyteller.