Youth Resilience Found In Storytelling

On this West Virginia Morning, all this week we’ll be hearing from and about some of West Virginia’s younger residents. We hear a youth essay from Charleston where one young black West Virginian shares his vision for the future, and we also hear from young people in the Ohio Valley region.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets. Young, old, black and white. They’re protesting the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and, in Appalachia, victims such as Robert Ellis, who you can learn more about in the most recent episode of Inside Appalachia. The show features voices of several black people in our region, talking about racism, and about their visions for a more just future, including 17-year-old Aiden Satterfield who lives in Charleston.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting has partnered with organizations in the Northern Panhandle to create a series of youth stories. They were created and produced out of a yurt in the middle of an urban farm in Wheeling. Roxy Todd sat down with the series’ producer, education reporter Glynis Board, to gain more insight and context. We bring you part of their conversation.

Public school students in Ohio County have been working with our Northern News Bureau to explore issues and professions in the Ohio Valley. As part of the storytelling initiative, students interviewed a panel of professional artists. A Japanese painter, an illustrator, and a filmmaker. Students worked with journalist Ella Jennings to bring us this story. To respect the privacy of the young storytellers, we’ve withheld their real names.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning