Twelve new Alamance County storytellers come together to share their stories with Elon students based on rootedness, migration and belonging
Elon University’s interdisciplinary core capstone course, “Museums, Monuments, and Memory” and Human Service Studies course “Working with Groups and Communities” met with community partners and 12 local storytellers at the Alamance Dream Center to launch the 2025 iteration of “Stories of Alamance County,” a project of the Power+Place Collaborative.
This year’s theme is “Storying Home: Cultivating Cross-Cultural Connections Through Storytelling,” with participants exploring themes of rootedness, migration and belonging. Faculty members Danielle Lake, Sandy Marshall and Deidre Yancey are leading the initiative together in anticipation of the Dec. 4 Power+Place film screening.
The Power+Place Collaborative is a partnership between Elon University, the African American Cultural Arts & History Museum, Burlington Parks & Recreation and Alamance Public Libraries. Since 2018, they have collected and preserved oral histories and cocreated digital stories with residents from diverse communities across Alamance County.
“Working with Groups and Communities” student Peyton Patrick sees the impact of her Power+Place community-engaged course from both a logistical and creative level. Patrick is inspired by her instructor and Center for Design Thinking Director Danielle Lake as she sees her as a “boss, a teacher and a mentor at the end of the day.” The teachings of design thinking have also helped shape Patrick’s time as an Elon University student.
“The whole point of the center is to design human change and create things that are going to improve people’s lives,” Patrick said. Being a part of the process of community change is “so much different than talking to a whole class about how you can make a difference in the community.”
Owner of Occasions’ Catering & Southern Cuisine Elois Lettley is Patrick’s storyteller for this semester. She instantly found a connection with her, enjoying hearing about Lettley’s upbringing and how she brings different food influences to the restaurant.
“Just 15 minutes outside of this bubble, there’s so many people of diverse backgrounds and cultures that want to get to know you,” Patrick said. “It really changes your whole perspective on what it means to be able to understand other people and to understand and connect with others.”
Along with collecting stories, The Alamance County History Harvest collected materials from storytellers to store on an open-access digital database. Power+Place stores its archived materials from storytellers and History Harvest materials on Omeka, an openly accessible platform for digital collections and exhibitions.
With guidance from Amanda Kleintop, assistant professor of history, and graduate student Emily Moser, students Andrea Camo Conde and Amaylie Bethea helped gather materials from storytellers at the event. Camo Conde was a student in the class last year, also creating films alongside other students. She believes working this position still allows her to connect with the storytellers.
“The history harvest was a great way to meet and get to know them through the objects they brought, which highlight their significant impact on the community,” Camo Conde said. “It’s so nice to see people reminisce on the objects they brought in to be scanned and recognized by the community. You can see in their face that they are appreciative and happy to share their stories.”
This year, the Power+Place Collaborative is collaborating with Williams High School civic literacy students. High school students will be attending the December storytelling event to hear all the finished stories from members of their community.
There are two options to attend this year: Limited in-person seating at the Elon Community Church. If you would like to attend in person, please email dlake@elon.edu and register online, or you can attend virtually from 12:30-2 p.m. EST. Register for the virtual option.