If you’re a student, you have stories. You see and experience the campus from a singular, compelling viewpointas you move through classes, the dining hall, your apartment or dorm, to club meetings or athletic events. You are the insiders on a campus that so many people observe from the outside.
And guess what? People want to hear your story.
The CCU community wants to know about your roommate who landed a lead role in a play, or the conversation you had with your French teacher after class. They want to know about your internship, your recent study abroad, your most interesting classes and what happens in your apartment around exam time.
This semester, Bob Batchelor and I are running a pilot course (ENGL 392/COMM 361) that allows students to find, research and write their own stories on any topic related to the Edwards College. It’s taken off just like we’d hoped it would.
Our students are digging up stories neither Professor Batchelor or I could have ever found. They’re discoveringinteresting people, events, and trends around campus. They’re holding editorial meetings with classmates and shaping those stories into compelling nonfiction narratives.
This course goes beyond offering credit and hands-on learning to provide the experience of working on an editorial team and giving input and feedback to classmates’ writing. It fosters skills future employers want to see, such as collaboration, resilience and advanced writing ability. Some of our students’ stories will be postedEdwards College digital media channels, giving each writer a professional byline as an undergraduate.
Essentially, the class we teach is about curiosity, conversation and connection. In a world where AI threatens to overtake so many branches of our lives, the stories our students write are original. When they conduct an interview with a friend or faculty member, they hear a story that’s never been recorded before.
They create real feature news stories that have real impacts on real people.
Stories produced in class will be showcased on a new Edwards College Tapestry Media site. Future semesterswill extend this model, making the course valuable to students in graphic design, visual art, digital culture and design, photography and other disciplines. As it is, the class is not limited to English or Communication majors; currently, a marine science major is about to earn a byline.
If you’ve got stories — and we know you do — we want to hear them. Register for ENGL 392/COMM 361 for Fall 2026 to get started.
