Pike County Extension Fine Arts, in cooperation with Pikeville Poetry and Progress Pike, held a workshop geared toward teen girls. The “Story to Song” workshop, facilitated by Berea musician and songwriter Melody Youngblood, set out to help teach young women to value their own ideas, experiences, and creative power.

Five girls participated in the program, which consisted of two evening workshops and a final public performance. The girls had no prior songwriting experience but all shared an interest in music. In only six hours, the new team was able to completely craft and learn their very own song, titled “A Place for Us All."

Although writing a song was the intended result of the workshop, this task acted as the vehicle in which the program worked in bigger picture issues such as self-esteem, confidence, courage, and more.

Each girl was given a brand new journal and set of colorful ink pens. They were prompted to write in their journals about important life moments, both positive and negative, and discussed how these experiences shaped their personalities, beliefs, and world view. They also shared their hopes and goals for both themselves and their community. In some instances, the girls completely agreed on one topic, while other times they felt very differently but were able to learn a lot about communication and understanding.

The final performance took place as part of Pikeville’s first annual Unity Celebration, an event organized by several Pike County organizations with the intent to uplift the diversity within the city and bring community members together regardless of differences. The event featured keynote speaker John Rosenberg, a holocaust survivor and social justice lawyer working in eastern Kentucky, as well as several other speakers and musicians.

Our workshop participants, along with Youngblood, took the stage to sing their new song for the crowd gathered at Pikeville City Park. The audience was visibly moved by their lyrics. One woman, with tearful eyes, thanked the girls for their performance and told them how much it had inspired her.

All participants reported that the Story to Song workshop, while not only very fun, left them with more confidence and a greater respect for the people around them. When speaking of the workshop, one girl said, “Thank you so much for the opportunity to spread love. That’s was the biggest thing I took away from this experience.”