Category: Storytelling

Sometimes it’s the little things that get us through the day.  In this story, Olin student Owen Dray waxes rhapsodic about those little miracles in the yellow box: Cheerios.  But far from simply serving as part of a well-balanced breakfast, for Owen, Cheerios have been his anchor, holding him steady while the seas of his life around him have shifted.  As so many students struggle with anxiety, it’s important to remember the reliable, unchanging parts of our lives, however small.

To learn more about Storytelling, visit Olin College’s Story Lab website here.

In this story, P.J. leans into the tactile metaphor of “who wears the pants” – exploring their inner swagger while also precariously navigating both gender and family constraints. P.J. bring us into a world where the circumstances of self-expression feel neither easy nor fully realized, reminding us of both the pain and the courage involved in tailoring an identity that fits.

This story was produced in partnership with the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute for their Story Slam centered on a university-wide theme of Connection and Disconnection.

In this story, Olin student Hwei-Shin Harriman poignantly shares her lifelong dance with perfectionism. Hwei-Shin was on track to become a professional ballerina before shifting her attention to engineering. Her story is both unique and universal, as everyone encounters trade-offs in pursuit of excellence. In reflecting on her journey, Hwei-Shin now asks us all to consider what it means to be good enough.

To learn more about Storytelling, visit Olin College’s Story Lab website here.

In this story, Olin student Dre Hilton wrestles with the meaning of good and bad. Dre lives in a world with a lot of good and bad around him, and he sees both good and bad within himself. What does it mean for Dre when he moves from his childhood home to college, where the range between good and bad shrinks? Dre encourages all of us to embrace the complexity of who we are, and the systems we chose to engage with.

To learn more about Storytelling, visit Olin College’s Story Lab website here.

This story, from Georgia Tech student Alexis Seith, explores how we can pursue feelings of wholeness by noticing fragments of ourselves – regardless of whether those fragments can be pieced back together. Alexis finds both pain and beauty in the pieces of her life as well as a way to hold both at once. This story was produced in partnership with The Narrative Engineer conference through The Georgia Institute of Technology.

 This story from Olin College of Engineering graduate Michael Costello finds him wondering which pieces of his high school identity to bring into college. In the absence of actively cultivating his identity, he discovers his ability to flourish in college gets tangled up — like hair that hasn’t been cut in a while.

This story from Olin’s former dean of admissions and financial aid Emily Roper-Doten (now dean of admissions at Brandeis University) recounts a key moment in her own time as a first-generation college student when socioeconomic class differences became starkly evident to her — and the ways in which that moment has shaped her career-long commitment to equity.

To learn more about Storytelling, visit Olin College’s Story Lab website here.

This story from Olin professor of computing and innovation Amon Millner recounts the origins of his investment in changing the computer systems that govern our world. He takes us from his divorced parents’ very different homes to a fateful moment at a carnival to his current work in computing, linking the personal and the cultural.

To learn more about Storytelling, visit Olin College’s Story Lab website here.

This story from Olin student Milo Wiston is about adulting during the reign of COVID. Wielding her infectious brand of humor, Milo flaps her wings to explore the challenge of flourishing as a young adult when you aren’t exactly sure how to grow up. 

To learn more about Storytelling, visit Olin College’s Story Lab website here.

This story from University of Connecticut student Myles Tate-Alsgaard poignantly captures his developmental stagnation. In a self-aware and poetic story, Myles describes his evolution as a jazz bass player and the ways his own personal development have stalled alongside his dedication to music. The story demonstrates what it means to feel in between adolescence and adulthood.

To learn more about Storytelling, visit Olin College’s Story Lab website here.