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Rock Bridge Students participate in This I Believe

Kathryn Fishman Weaver

This I believe. These are iconic words we heard on National Public Radio from the mouths of hundreds of people, sharing their beliefs, thoughts, and guiding principles. Today KBIA brings you a series of This I Believe, written and recorded by Rock Bridge High School students.

The original series started in 1951 on CBS radio and was hosted by Edward R. Murrow. Fifty years later, NPR revived the show collecting essays from the nation's most celebrated writers, to its school children. NPR’s series ended in 2009, but has continued to inspire writers young and old across the country. 

 
Including one local woman, Kathryn Fishman-Weaver, an advanced courses teacher at Rock Bridge High School. Ms. Fishman Weaver contacted KBIA about a project she was working on with her students: writing This I Believe Essays of their own. 
 
The guidelines for This I Believe essays are to write a story about yourself, keep it brief, be positive and personal and most importantly name your belief. When Edward Murrow hosted the original show, he said “Never has the need for personal philosophies of this kind been so urgent,” according to the This I Believe organization. And many still see a need today. 
 
You can listen to the student's essay above, or read a transcript of themhere

Abigail Keel is a senior student at the Missouri School of Journalism. She is originally from St. Louis, Missouri and grew up hating the drone of public radio in her parent's car. In high school, she had a job picking up trash in a park where she listened to podcasts for entertainment and made a permanent switch to public-radio lover. She's volunteered and interned for Third Coast International Audio Festival in Chicago, IL, and worked on the KBIA shows Faith and Values, Intersection and CoMO Explained.