Project: Minnesota Youth Story Squad
About the project
Founded by Drs. Kari Smalkoski and Jigna Desai in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, Minnesota Youth Story Squad (MYSS) offers a rich interdisciplinary, culturally relevant curriculum that uses digital media-making to engage youth academically, socially and emotionally, and builds in mentorship opportunities with UMN undergraduates.
Minnesota Transform partnered with MYSS to place UMN undergraduate interns at Northeast Middle School (NE Minneapolis), South High School (South, Minneapolis), and Parkway Montessori Middle School (East side, St. Paul).
Follow these links for more info about MYSS:
Northeast Middle School (NEMS)
Check out this video, which chronicless the work students and interns did in the 2021- 2022 academic year.
South High School
MYSS collaborated on a number of projects with South High. Read more about the collaboration here. You can also read Southside Stories, a collection of writing by students from South High School availble at the MYSS website.
Check out an excerpt from "Southside Stories," one of the documentaries produced by MYSS students at South High School. You can find the full documentaries cread by South High Students at this YouTube playlist.
Parkway Montessori Middle School
MYSS has partnered with Parkway Montessori since 2015 and has collaborated on a number of projects including virtual workshops about students' interests.
Partners and collaborators
Minneapolis and St. Paul Public Schools Partners: Northeast Middle School (MPS), South High School (MPS) & Parkway Montessori Middle School (SPPS)
Community Partners: COMPAS, Frank Sentwali, Kelley Meister, May Lee-Yang, TPT Twin Cities PBS, Dane Stauffer, Peyton Scott Russell
NEMS Interns: Jordan Allen, Dante Fornizy, Amala Harrison, Aradhana Menon, Lauren Olsson, Jada Moss, Gretchen Stahle, Jenny Tam, Nick Sima, Kalea Yang, Austin Kim, Chufue Lo, Benjamin Pickering, PJ Marth, Diane Tam, Ren Weischmann
South Interns: Derartu Ansha, Lydia Anthony, Meredith Song, Emame Thompson-Eja, Catherine Thompson, Anika Mathur, Iris Marohn, Camille Winston, Angela Twumasi, Angela Kunkel-Linares, Kinsley Wilcox-McBride, Aradhana Menon, Alexander Lucas, Asanti Bekele
Parkway Interns: Anh Doan, Judy Nguyen, Haley Kallin, Alexandra Jacklen
MYSS Media Interns: Carly Hawley, Lauren Foley, Jenny Tam
High School Interns: Star Winfrey, Khayaal Desai-Hunt
Project Coordinators: Michelle Garvey (NEMS), Ali Tennant (NEMS), Alia Jeraj (South), E Ornelas (South & Summer High School Program), Kari Smalkoski (Parkway), Eliza Scholl (NEMS)
