Video: Mississippi Students Record Stories for Rural Voices Radio

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) — Students from across the state met in Starkville Saturday to lend their voices to a special radio project.

They told stories about family, friends and fun times. Students ranging from primary school to college came from all over Mississippi to participate in a project for Rural Voices Radio.

“The thing about Rural Voices Radio is that it gives these kids a real audience where they’re not writing for the teacher which happens in about 95 percent of the cases where the students are writing. So this is for a real audience and they know that and it makes a difference,” says Sherry Swain, the event organizer from the National Writers Project.

The students wrote their own stories during the school year. They were asked to focus on life in Mississippi. Some students say it was a great opportunity to honor their family.

“My grandma majored in English and I said ‘why not do something on the radio where people can hear it?,” says Kentrell Lester, an 11th grader from Oxford .

Presley Bassett is a 4th grader from Starkville.

“My grandfather and I like to do a lot of stuff together and I just thought it would cool to do this,” says Bassett.

“I just wanted to show people how kids act in Mississippi and the type of memories they make in Mississippi and the general South,” says Sarah Kate Spear of Huntsville, AL.

Swain says the Rural Voices project enhances students’ writing skills and hopes the community will continue donating funds for the program.

“I think it’s just too important to these kids and to their development academically as writers and having the self esteem that they deserve to have,” says Swain.

Rural Voices Radio is managed by the MSU Foundation. If you’d like to donate to Rural Voices Radio, just go to www.msufoundation.com. Click the GIVE NOW link. You must write in “Rural Voices Radio” so that the gift will be directed to that fund.