PHOTO BY RIK ANDERSON | ONCE UPON A TIME: Dr. Trudy Hanson educates the students in her storytelling and puppetry course to capture kids’ attentions through lively and interactive performances of children books. These students are also members of the Panhandle Storytelling Guilde that performs for chidren at various libraries and schools.
Amanda Garcia
Photographer
Theologian Harvey Cox once said, “All human beings have an innate need to hear and tell stories and to have a story to live by.” For Dr. Trudy Hanson and the students of the Panhandle Storytelling Guild, this adage rings true.
“The Panhandle Storytelling Guild is a student organization devoted to preserving the art of storytelling in our community,” Dr. Trudy Hanson, the Panhandle Storytelling Guild adviser and department of communication head, said.
Students who are enrolled in the storytelling and puppetry course (SCOM 4330) automatically become members of this campus organization. Throughout the semester, Hanson trains students how to make stories come alive and how to spark and maintain the interests of children through performance.
“My storytelling and puppetry course has been the only class I’ve had with Dr. Hanson, but I am so thankful she is my instructor,” Porsche McIntosh, sophomore education major, said.
There are many things I like about her as a professor but the one thing that sticks out the most is her kindness and generosity. She is a very down-to-earth person and is always interested in her students as individuals.”
In the duration of the semester, Hanson splits her class into groups and requires the students to work together to perform various children books. After practicing before their own peers, the guild members then perform their skits and stories for children at different locations such as the WTAMU Kids Kollege, Canyon Public Library and Paramount Terrace Elementary School.
The student organization also has an ongoing service learning project with Bushland Elementary where the college students coach the elementary students on how to effectively perform an assigned story.
“I think it is very important for students, especially speech majors and future teachers, to take the storytelling and puppetry course and to be apart of the Panhandle Storytelling Guild,” McIntosh said.
In my opinion, storytelling is special in its own way and brings out the good in many people.”
The guild has sponsored the annual WTAMU Storytelling Festival since 1990. This year’s event will feature professional storyteller Diane Ferlatte. She is known for her performances over the Brer Rabbit tales. She will perform these stories at the festival along with explaining how such tales encouraged slaves during their oppression.
The festival is on May 1 and will begin at 10 a.m. in the Branding Iron Theatre. A storytelling workshop will be held for university students and community members from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in room 185 of the Fine Arts Complex. At 7 p.m., select graduate students will perform their renditions of popular children’s stories in the Branding Iron Theatre followed by Ferlatte’s own performance.
“I love the fact that Dr. Hanson uses real life situations to teach her course,” McIntosh said.
I have learned many things from her and I hope to use many of her teaching methods in my own classroom setting when I become a teacher.”
Hanson began working at WT in August 1989 and established the Panhandle Storytelling Guild as a student organization in 1995.
Along with coaching students on the best techniques for performing stories, she serves as the Storytelling Festival director and assists in planning the annual Storytelling Festival.
“As a high school senior, I was elected as state president of a student organization and was called on to give several speeches,” Hanson said. “I love public speaking and decided I wanted to major in speech communication.”
Hanson was born in Magnolia, Mississippi and was raised outside of Kentwood, Louisiana. Hanson received her bachelor of science in speech/English education from Louisiana State University in 1971 and she went on to earn her masters in public address in 1973. She obtained her doctorate in higher education with a minor in communication studies from Texas Tech in 1994.
“I love the art of storytelling—whether I am teaching or performing,” Hanson said. “In my mind, the best teachers are those
who use the power of story in their instruction to inspire as well as to challenge students.”
For more information concerning the Panhandle Storytelling Guild and the Storytelling Festival, contact Dr. Trudy Hanson at (806) 651-2800.