Equity Immersion: Storytelling

Stories were shared at the fourth annual Equity Immersion, which took place on Thursday, November 20, preceding the 2025 Joint Annual Conference.  

Dubbed “The Power of Us: Storytelling for Just and Joyful Schools,” the day-long event was led by IASB Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Services Maryam Brotine and opened with a warm-up session with communications coach Jennie Moreau.

Then, the opening keynote, titled “The Power of Story,” was led by Jessica Fagen and Ela Banerjee from Voice of Witness (VOW), an oral history nonprofit that provides people affected by injustice with the opportunity to share their stories. The VOW team then led an engaging workshop on practices for ethical storytelling. Concurrently, IASB and ISBE teamed up for a workshop session on Data-Based Storytelling for Social Justice, featuring Brotine, Directors of Outreach & Training Katie Bulava and Patrick Allen, and Sergio Hernandez, Director of Family & Community Engagement and Equity Lead at ISBE. 

    

The Oak Park and River Forest High School Spoken Word Club brought student voice to the midday.

 

Moreau returned and delivered unique storytelling strategies to the participants in the afternoon session, at which attendees had the opportunity to craft their own narratives and share their voices, many with clarifying, heartfelt, and joyous stories.