Roots of Resilience: Community Voices in Action
Ready, Set, Resilience thrives because it is built with and for the community. After hurricanes and storms left deep marks on Eastern North Carolina, teachers asked for something different: a way to help students process change, connect with nature, and strengthen their own voices. From those conversations, RSR grew into a program where local students, educators, and community partners come together to co-create stories of resilience.
This kind of engagement doesn’t stop at school walls. Events like the Durham Museum of Life and Science Community Day bring families, teachers, and young people together to celebrate resilience through storytelling and performance. When middle school students performed a shadow puppet show for the public, they were not only sharing what they learned, but also inspiring their community to see resilience as something everyone can build together.
Students from Broad Creek Middle School in coastal Carteret County, North Carolina presenting the show: “It’s a story called Teddy and the Trash Monster” at the Durham Museum of Life and Science, March 2025.
RSR Student Works
These photos show just a glimpse of this engagement. Middle school students illustrated fables like Gilbert the Grouper, Sandy the Snail, Queen Antoinette of the Fire Ants, and Terry the Tree, connecting ecological lessons to themes of self-awareness, adaptation, and strength. Teachers integrated these stories into classrooms, sparking both art and reflection. The student-made finger puppets, colorful drawings, and shadow puppet screens are more than creative projects—they are expressions of how young people see themselves as resilient leaders in their own communities.
March 2026 RSR Community Days
In March 2026, Ready, Set, Resilience hosted two days of interactive programing at the Museum of Life and Science. In addition, during Durham’s Creek Week the Museum became home to a temporary exhibit of middle school student work inspired by the Ready, Set, Resilience curriculum. The exhibit featured work from middle school classrooms spanning North Carolina from the coast to the mountains. The community days included live shadow puppet performances, make and take craft stations, and even a puppet parade featuring animal and plant characters from Bend in the Wind, the collection of resilience fables included in the Ready, Set, Resilience curriculum.
Read more about this event here!
From the Public
Community members also play a role. At public showcases, neighbors were invited to leave notes of encouragement for student artists, turning classrooms into community galleries. Messages like “Fantastic work, I can tell you worked really hard on these projects!” and “Your finger puppets are beautiful, thank you for sharing them with us” remind students that their creativity is valued beyond the classroom.
Community members leave encouraging notes for student artists, celebrating their creativity and storytelling. Feedback wall with messages like “Fantastic work!” and “The finger puppets are beautiful!” reminding students their art makes an impact.
Ready, Set, Resilience is about connection, between people, stories, and place. Each drawing, puppet, and performance is a reminder that resilience grows stronger when it is rooted in community.
