In times of trauma, story has a crucial, cathartic role to play. That’s what many of the first 230 Los Angeles area fire-impacted students discovered as they met the SpiritCorps challenge this spring, identifying, crafting, and presenting their stories of Courage or Compassion. This two-year initiative seeks to serve 2,000 middle and high schoolers area-wide by April 2027, and was born when early reports from a longtime partner middle school estimated that 25% of students had lost their homes! All across the city, parents in service sectors have lost jobs. And for those who can return to burn areas, their neighborhoods will never again be the same.

As students give voice to their loss, they learn that community can help them shoulder their hardship, and out of tragedy they can harvest inner resources that may last them a lifetime. Seventh grader Sasha B. concluded: “This helped me learn that other people are struggling with the same things I am and made me feel less alone.” SpiritCorps—itself a response to the pandemic—has now empowered over 5,500 students from coast to coast as they tap the magic of story to help meet challenge and adversity in their lives.