Last school year, Tyee students took part in video interviews about joy for VSB’s Diverse Story Studio. Educators across VSB use the videos in lessons about diversity, inclusion and joy. The videos show how joy can uplift students’ histories, identities, belonging and self-worth.

Three students led the afternoon: Dimitri, in Grade 11 at Tupper; Samdisha, in Grade 12 at Windermere; and Kingston, in Grade 11 at Point Grey. They showed three videos about joy: joy as an emotion, joy through community and joy as self-expression.

Each student shared part of their own story. They spoke about how joy shaped who they are.

Dimitri spoke about the pride he feels in his Greek heritage. He shared how it connects him with family across generations.

Samdisha shared how her Taekwondo community has given her a sense of belonging.  

Kingston described how art helps her express herself. Acting and dance give her a creative outlet.

After each video, more than 100 students split into groups for an activity. First, students wrote or drew what joy meant to them. Their responses were thoughtful and personal. Each one showed the student’s own experience.

One student wrote, “To me, joy is having happiness despite all the hard things, and gratitude for everything we have.” 

Another wrote, “To me, joy means to be happy and to feel like you belong in your community.” 

In the second activity, students silently arranged themselves in birthday order from January 1 to December 31 without using words. 

The final activity was “dance telephone,” a dance-based version of the classic telephone game.

“We don’t often have a group of 100 plus students from multiple grades interacting with each other, I could see the joy it brought them and how coming together in this way strengthens our school community. It was so special to watch the videos starring Tyee students, they were truly co-creators of their own learning today,” 

Monrad hopes other educators will use the videos to start conversations. She also hopes the videos help build stronger connections in classrooms and schools.

VSB’s Diverse Story Studio is inspired by the idea that amazing, diverse people walk among us, and they can help shape understanding and empathy toward diverse cultures and identities. These videos show the power of student stories to teach, connect and inspire. 

VSB educators can access videos on the Hub.