Dignity Story Project
Collect stories from across your school and community around one powerful question about dignity. Participants interview classmates, teachers, custodians, coaches, support staff, family members, younger students, older adults, business owners, first responders, veterans, community leaders, and others whose stories make up the place they call home.
Ask everyone the same question, then turn their answers into a photo exhibit, story wall, podcast, video series, audio installation, digital gallery, mini-documentary, or community event. The results become a collective portrait of your community told through the voices of the people who live in it.
- School/admin approval
- One central interview question
- A diverse list of people to interview
- Recording devices, cameras, or notebooks (depending on the format)
- A system for organizing stories
- A plan for the finished exhibit or project
- Optional: photography, journalism, media, yearbook, or art partners
Stories make it harder to reduce people to categories, roles, appearances, ages, or assumptions. Interviewing someone requires participants to slow down, ask a genuine question, and listen. Sharing those stories creates recognition and understanding while making voices visible that may not usually receive attention. The project asks two dignity questions at once: Whose stories do we usually hear? And whose story might we be missing?
- Choose one question. Pick a prompt broad enough that people of different ages and experiences can answer it.
- Ask who's missing. Make a list of voices usually heard in your school or community, then intentionally look beyond those voices.
- Choose your format. Decide whether you'll collect written stories, photos, audio, video, or a combination.
- Prepare interviewers. Practice introducing the project, asking the question, listening without interrupting, and asking simple follow-up questions.
- Collect the stories. Interview people throughout Dignity Week or in the weeks leading up to it.
- Find the threads. Look for themes, differences, surprises, and connections across the stories.
- Build the collection. Turn interviews into a gallery, podcast, video, documentary, story wall, or other public exhibit.
- Share it back. Invite the people whose stories you collected to see, hear, or experience the finished product.
Important: Make participation voluntary and clearly explain how stories, names, photos, audio, or video will be used. Follow school policies for student privacy, media releases, recording, and public sharing. Participants should always be able to skip a question, choose what they want shared, or revoke permission.
Take the project beyond your campus and create a communitywide dignity archive. Partner with elementary schools, senior centers, libraries, colleges and universities, businesses, community organizations, veterans groups, first responders, local government, or others to collect stories across generations and experiences.
Invite journalism, photography, media, art, or history students to help produce a documentary, podcast series, printed book, interactive exhibit, or public installation in a shared community space. End with a community screening, gallery walk, listening event, or story night where participants can experience the collection together.
Create a "Humans of [School Name]." Choose one question and interview 10–20 people from different parts of your school. Pair each person's short response with an approved photo or simple written profile and display the collection in a hallway, library commons, or approved digital space.
The strongest projects ask everyone a central question. Choose something that invites a story rather than a one-word answer. Then, let the interviewer listen and follow where the story goes. See "Questions to Get You Started" below for ideas.
Try to collect voices across:
- Students from different grades and groups
- Teachers and administrators
- Custodians, cafeteria workers, office staff, bus drivers
- Counselors and student support staff
- Coaches
- Families
- Elementary or middle school students
- Older adults and community elders
- Veterans
- Business owners
- First responders
- Community volunteers
- Local leaders
- People whose voices aren't usually spotlighted
Don't just ask: Who should we interview? Ask: Who are we forgetting?
- Introduce yourself. Explain the project and where the story may appear.
- Ask permission. Make sure the person is comfortable participating and being recorded, photographed, or quoted.
- Ask the question. Be clear and give them time to think.
- Don't rush to fill the silence. People often need a few seconds before the real answer arrives.
- Listen for the understory. If they mention something interesting, ask simple follow-ups:
- What happened next?
- What did that mean to you?
- Why do you remember that?
- How did that make you feel?
- What do you want people to understand about that?
- Don't hunt for trauma. A meaningful story can be funny, joyful, ordinary, surprising, difficult, or hopeful.
- Let people own their story. They get to decide what they are comfortable sharing.
Your collection could become:
- Photos: Humans of [School Name], portrait gallery, story wall
- Words: Booklet, newspaper feature, quote installation, story cards
- Audio: Podcast, listening station, audio gallery
- Video: Interview series, short documentary, social campaign
- Art: Illustrated stories, painted portraits, multimedia installation
- Live: Story night, gallery walk, community showcase
Choose one central question. You can use these examples to start brainstorming, or create your own.
- Tell me about a time when someone treated you like you mattered.
- When has someone made you feel truly seen?
- Who has made a difference in your life through something small?
- Tell me about someone who believed in you.
- What's something that someone did for you that they probably don't remember, but you do?
- When have you felt like you truly belonged somewhere?
- What makes a place feel like home?
- Who has made room for you?
- What's one thing people can do to help someone feel included?
- Tell me about a group or community where you can really be yourself.
- Tell me about a time someone changed your mind.
- What's something you understand differently now than you did when you were younger?
- What's something people often misunderstand about your generation?
- Tell me about someone very different from you who taught you something.
- When has listening changed a relationship for you?
- What's the kindest thing you've seen someone do when nobody was watching?
- Tell me about a time someone stood up for another person.
- When have you seen someone disagree without treating the other person poorly?
- Who quietly makes the community better?
- What does treating someone with dignity look like to you?
- (For adults and/or community members) How does your job show dignity in action?
- What do you wish people younger than you understood?
- What do you wish people older than you understood?
- What's something about people that you think hasn't changed across generations?
- What lesson about relationships took you a long time to learn?
- What do you hope the next generation does better than yours?
- What has getting older taught you about understanding other people?
Full designed PDF with the complete Interview + Planning Guide and all five question categories — see the download button above.