Dr. Schrum: A Short Story

I am still interested in telling the story of First Generation College Students (FGSs); however, a few aspects on my concept have changed since meeting with Dr. Schrum, specifically, the message and the intended audience. By refining these areas of the project, I am able to focus on next steps in order to move into the storyboard phase.

Originally, the focus of the digital story was to illuminate the barriers to success that FGSs experience. My intention was to weave statistics around actual Mason student stories. The end result was to be one where the statistics become more meaningful and the issues or barriers become a reality for the viewer. The audience for the intended digital story would have been high school and college academic staff, instructors, and policymakers. After further reflection, I will instead focus on the strengths and resiliency of FGSs, as well as their successes. I will still interview FGSs and ask them to tell their stories about overcoming barriers and experiencing successes. Persistence is itself a success. Participants in the interview portion of the digital story will include previous students I taught in a FGS cohort of UNIV 100 during Fall 2015. Additionally, I have journals that students wrote during their first week of class as well as throughout the entire semester. I will give participants access to their own journals and possibly ask them to read them aloud depending on the content covered. The new audience for this digital story will be other
I have clips from news outlets as well as a speech from Michelle Obama, also a