All students, alumni, faculty, and staff are welcome to participate in One Small Step Dartmouth.

• STEP 1: Fill out a confidential online questionnaire to be matched for a conversation. Your questionnaire responses will help StoryCorps’ One Small Step team find the best conversation partner for you. To ensure the most fruitful possible dynamics, we’ll begin by only pairing students with other students, staff with staff, alums with alums, and faculty with faculty.
• STEP 2: When we find a match for you,  StoryCorps will reach out to hear more about your goals and work to schedule your recording appointment.
• STEP 3: The One Small Step Experience: A trained StoryCorps facilitator will facilitate and record a guided conversation between you and your partner. Together, you’ll explore questions like:
  • Tell me about your life growing up.
  • What was your experience during the pandemic lockdown?
  • Do you feel comfortable expressing your views on campus?
  • Tell me about a time when you felt misunderstood.

The whole process takes 75-90 minutes. This includes 50 minutes for the conversation itself, plus time for an initial orientation, a debrief, and paperwork.

• STEP 4: Leave your legacy: Choose to archive your recording in StoryCorps’ collection at the Library of Congress, or keep it private. It’s your choice.  

• Your comfort level and consent in this process is our first priority.
• You drive the conversation. You choose what questions to discuss.  The facilitator’s role is to ensure you and your partner both feel comfortable, respected, and in control. The facilitator may suggest follow-up questions, but all questions are optional.
• The recording will be preserved in the StoryCorps collection at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. only if both participants agree to share it.
• You decide whether to share the recording only AFTER the recording ends. You can share the conversation, but keep your name/identity anonymous, or you can keep the conversation totally private. There is no obligation to share.
• You and your conversation partner always receive a digital copy of the recording, regardless of your decision.

• To help get the word out and show the Dartmouth community what One Small Step conversations sound like, the One Small Step team will choose a few conversations, with participants’ permission, to edit and share on Dartmouth and StoryCorps channels.
• This project is NOT about capturing provocative tape. It’s about creating meaningful experiences for participants. StoryCorps is very intentional about making sure no one’s beliefs/identities feel under a microscope in produced pieces - in fact, the success of One Small Step is only as good as the trust participants have in StoryCorps to work with/uplift their words with care.
• If your conversation is selected to be produced, we will notify you before it’s shared.