One Small Step Interns Do the Work of Community Organizing

The WTIP One Small Step team (left to right): Aaliyah Jones, Amber Theiner, Grete Youngdahl, Barbara Jean Meyers, Staci Drouillard, Michael McHugh, Eero Moody.
Eero Moody has a history with WTIP. He made his radio debut on WTIP’s North Shore Morning, co-hosting the show with on-air volunteer Mark Abrahamson. Eero and his sister Hiver have also hosted a music show called Paste Waster’s Radio, and they both served on the very first youth radio advisory board in 2018-20.
And now Eero is one of four student interns working with WTIP on the One Small Step (OSS) community radio initiative. This is the second time WTIP has been selected to be a part of this national effort created by StoryCorps as a way to foster conversations between people with different political views or ways of seeing current events. The first round of Cook County conversations took place in 2022, bringing together 50 community members who took one small step across the divide of political polarization to learn more about each other, and discover what we have in common “across our differences.” The 25 interviews recorded in 2022 are stored in the StoryCorps Archive within the Library of Congress.
This year, as one of seven stations selected for the first One Small Step alumni cohort, WTIP has invited young people from our community to be involved in the process. As Eero explained, “I heard about it from Barbara Jean (Meyers) and my teacher Mr. McHugh and really thought it was a great way for our community to connect.” One Small Step project coordinator Barbara Jean Meyers and Cook County High School teacher Michael McHugh have been working with a number of students over the summer to develop strategies around community outreach, speaking to groups and organizations about the project, learning the StoryCorps approach to interviewing each other, as well as sharing ideas and information with their family members and circle of friends. Said Meyers, “they are doing that work of community organizing and setting up these conversations, facilitating them and even putting together the audio pieces that show some of the results.”
OSS intern Amber Theiner related that “I’m really interested in media communications. I think this is a really great opportunity to learn more.” Like Amber, all of the high-school interns are eager to explore the various forms of media, including videography, photography, developing writing and interviewing skills and learning the ropes of radio broadcasting, even if it puts them outside of their comfort zone. As Aaliyah Jones described, “During the media communications class I had a lot of fun. It really brought me out of my shell.”
Work on the One Small Step initiative will continue through December of 2024. “We’ll be doing interviews, editing and sharing the work with WTIP listeners to see the project through. It’s great to have this new surge of energy,” said Meyers.
When asked how he felt about “making history” with WTIP, Eero Moody replied, “It really is an honor to be asked to help with this. I encourage people to give it a try. There’s nothing to lose.”
If you would like to participate in One Small Step, start by filling out the 2024 questionnaire.
To learn more, please listen to the interviews with Eero, Amber, Aaliyah and Barbara Jean, below.