StoryCenter’s Educator Retreat
Ghost Ranch Retreat Center
Abiquiu, NM
June 6-8, 2025

Memories from the Ghost Ranch Retreat Music Video

Commitment Ceremony

The event had some 20 educators from around the United States, look into the issues facing educators here in 2025. The colleactive work was represented in three major discussions, looking at our community assets, assessing our own strengths and assessing our own networks. The document, Superpowers Assessment and Themes, captures some of that work. Here are the agenda and slides that accompanied the event. All participants gathered at the end of the weekend to make individual commitments to carry forward the work. Their words and voice are collected below.

Michelle Vasquez Commitment

My name is Michelle Vasquez, and I'm from San Antonio, Texas, and I will commit to conducting a research project that uses storytelling methods to explore the experiences of parents of children with autism.

amanda Hill

I committed to follow-up on my outreach list!

Ceci Norman

I will help StoryCenter and those associated with photo visual arts components and or project planning, and be in touch with Brooke and Leigh about craft making.

Andrew Gorvetzian

I commit to combating the isolation of dissertation writing by leveraging this community of storytellers to either offer an insight from my work, or offer to proofread or brainstorm on another project, or otherwise get out of a writing rut by leveraging auntie/ uncle wisdom.

Fiore BRan Aragon

My commitment for this year is to rest and reach out, which I mean, just to take the offer that our people has done to talk to me about projects and learning opportunities and just community building.

Joy pendLey

I commit to learning new skills around communication and then building on those skills to create resources for community, university collaborations, and then finally, using storytelling to make those connections.

Mark Griffin

I commit to learning new skills around communication and then building on those skills to create resources for community, university collaborations, and then finally, using storytelling to make those connections.

Magda Peck

So this I will have done. I will have launched the Shamashim Elder wisdom storytelling project, maybe a podcast, and have a clear and compelling pitch based on my story work with a cool design team to craft the layout and get it done together and set up, or I will have completed two interviews with the oldest original people I talked to with the same project that never got done in 2005

Jode brexa

I commit to reaching out to the coordinators I personally know of access in different regions of the globe whose programs are unexpectedly suspended for an unknown future, to listen for ways I can support resilience on the edge.

Carol Obrochta

My plan is to have a plan in motion for hosting a local storytelling workshop in Richmond, Virginia or thereabouts.

Leigh Bennett

I will commit to developing a storytelling project or webinar around the concepts of pluriversal literacies and critical making, starting with my own digital story and perhaps with the input of my radical tangibility Maven

Molly Falsetti-Yu

this fall, I commit to developing materials for an open educational resources textbook titled echo Espanol on digital storytelling methodology that can be used to create a digital story in Spanish about climate, ecological and environmental changes.

John Bennett

By October, I commit to composing, recording and uploading 10 instrumental audio tracks to the shared story center drive for use by StoryCenter members and their projects.

Rumi Smith

I commit to working with StoryCenter and continuing to build these networks with the people that are here and with the rest of story centers network, and to put in my all into this international conference coming up.

Monica Koller

My name is Monica Koller from Bellingham, Washington, and I'm excited to offer a digital storytelling workshop to six local organizations who are committed to racial justice and strength based storytelling, celebrating BIPOC wisdom, love and joy, …and I'm going to turn it out!

Joe Lambert

I commit to sustaining the communication of this gathering and to work toward another gathering in 2026!

Brooke hessler

I will convene and co-facilitate a digital storytelling group for radically tangible art makers.