Students gathered in McGlothlin-Street Theatre at the Gregory Center for Buffalo Tales this past Thursday. Buffalo Tales is an event put on by students in professor of communications Dr. Bruce Montgomery’s storytelling class.
Students in the storytelling class put on the event as part of their final grade every semester. This semester students told three types of stories: children’s, biblical or spiritual, and personal.
Each semester is different, depending on class size and when students are available. This semester, students spoke at two times, 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., with a special guest speaker at the 7 p.m. time.
A student who spoke at both times was junior political science and psychology double major Tessa Stevenson.
“I told two different stories that share my life,” Stevenson said. “Both stories come from a book my dad and I are writing.”
Stevenson and her dad are in the process of writing a book about personal stories between the two of them.
“The first story was about the most embarrassing moment in my life and the second was about driving with my dad,” Stevenson said. “They are real life stories; you can’t make this stuff up.”
Stevenson has told stories before in high school.
Another student who shared was senior interpersonal communications major Sarah Cox. She told a story that related to her family.
“My story was about a letter my grandfather wrote when he was in the military,” Cox said.
Cox’s grandfather was in the military during World War II. He was one of the first people to see the concentration camps after the liberation. The letter was about what he saw in those camps.
“I wanted to tell this story to show the change it had on my grandfather,” Cox said. “He was a stern military man, but after seeing what he saw it changed him. He became kinder.”
Cox comes from a long line of military descendants dating back to William Sherman, the Civil War general. The letter her grandfather wrote can be seen on display in a museum in San Francisco.