Gwinnett County Public Schools: The Great Thanksgiving Listen 2021

Press release from Gwinnett County Public Schools:

11.16.21

This holiday season preserve the story of someone you love

The holidays are a wonderful time of sharing with family and friends, and the Great Thanksgiving Listen is an opportunity for families to share special memories and preserve family stories.

The Great Thanksgiving Listen empowers young people—and people of all ages—to create an oral history of the contemporary United States by recording an interview with an elder, mentor, friend, or someone they admire. Since 2015, thousands of people from all 50 states have participated in the Great Listen, preserving their own unique oral history with a loved one and transforming the holidays into a time of intergenerational sharing.

Interested in participating in the Great Listen? You have two ways to record an interview:

• The StoryCorps Connect platform allows you to record a StoryCorps interview with a loved one remotely through your web browser. Find tips for getting started, suggestions for getting the conversation going as well as technical recommendations and a step-by-step video for the StoryCorps Connect platform online.

• For an in-person interview, use the StoryCorps App. Online, find tips for recording your interview on the app, getting the most out of your recording session, and how to prepare your space for a recorded interview. Here’s a step-by-step video for the StoryCorps App.

Check out these FAQs for Great Listen participants, and get some inspiration from this list of great questions to consider for your interview. The StoryCorps App and StoryCorps Connect are available to record year-round. To ensure your interview is a part of The Great Listen, make sure to use the keyword: TheGreatListen2021.

If you choose to share your interview, the audio and a still photo will be archived with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress to be preserved for future generations to discover. Online, discover more about StoryCorps, the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered.

This press release was produced by Gwinnett County Public Schools. The views expressed here are the author’s own.