Our Story: A Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo Public Schools, and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Collaboration

Roswell Park hosted an innovative summer program for Buffalo Public School teens. The Our Story program was a 5-week curriculum developed and implemented by Dr. Julie Carter, formerly of Buffalo State College’s School of Education. The program combined reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot with an intensive immersion at Roswell Park Cancer Center in Buffalo. In addition to book discussions, students explored issues related to cancer research, medical inequality, and informed consent. Experts from inside Roswell helped them explore cancer diagnosis, treatment, and research, combined with other engaging activities including restorative circles with the Erie County Restorative Justice Coalition, yoga with Sióbhan Powers, poetry with Dr. Hilary Lochte from Buffalo State’s English Education Department and collage portraits with Kathy Shiroki, Community Engagement Associate with the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Education Department, who brought the museum experience to the students enhancing the Our Story program. Over 4 weekly sessions, 16 Buffalo Public School students explored oral history interviews and developed their works of art. Ms. Shiroki discussed multi-media portraits in The Center’s collection to inspire divergent representations of their selected person. Student portraits were displayed at their final closing ceremony on August 11th at Roswell Park. 

Our Story is a Buffalo Public Schools Office of Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Initiatives program. Funding for the program was provided by Buffalo Public Schools and Roswell Park’s Educational Affairs Office.