Award-winning broadcaster Dan Gediman, executive producer of the This I Believe series on NPR and the executive director of This I Believe, Inc., will speak at Baylor School today during Upper School Chapel and Middle School Chapel. He will also meet with the ninth graders from1:20 p.m. – 2:20 p.m. to launch a This I Believe essay contest that will involve the entire class of 163 students.
This I Believe, Inc., was founded in 2004 as an independent, not-for-profit organization that engages youth and adults from all walks of life in writing, sharing, and discussing brief essays about the core values that guide their daily lives.The radio series is based on a popular 1950s program of the same name, hosted by acclaimed journalist Edward R. Murrow. Each day, Americans gathered by their radios to hear compelling essays by Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Robinson, Helen Keller, and Harry Truman as well as corporate leaders, cab drivers, scientists, and secretaries—anyone able to distill into a few minutes the guiding principles by which they lived. Their words brought comfort and inspiration to a country worried about the Cold War, McCarthyism, and racial division.
In reviving This I Believe, Mr. Gediman said, “The goal is not to persuade Americans to agree on the same beliefs. Rather, the hope is to encourage people to begin the much more difficult task of developing respect for beliefs different from their own.”
Teachers around the country—and around the world—have embraced This I Believe as a compelling educational tool in middle and high school classrooms and in college courses. Teachers use the curricula to guide students through an exploration of their beliefs and then composing personal essays about them. The goal is to help students learn about themselves and their peers, and experience the delight of realizing their views and voices have value.