For volunteer interviewers
Thank you for helping us listen
Some of the best stories come out across a kitchen table, with someone who cares asking the next question. Here is everything you need to sit down with a parishioner, school parent, alum, teacher, or volunteer and record their memories in person.
Start with the template
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Community Interview Template
Eleven 30-minute sessions for long-time parishioners, school families, alumni, teachers, and volunteers.
Before you record
From the Community Interview Template. A few habits make all the difference.
- Keep every session to 30 minutes or less. If they tire early, stop. Eight good answers beat ten tired ones.
- Pick the time of day they are sharpest, in a quiet, comfortable seat with water nearby.
- Ask one short question at a time. Speak clearly, and wait through the silence. The best stories arrive after it.
- Ask them to bring one thing to the first session: an object, a photo, a bulletin, or a school keepsake. "Tell me about this picture" often beats any question.
- Lean on follow-ups more than the script: "What happened next?" and "Who else was there?"
- Open each session by recapping the last one in a sentence or two, and by showing a photo or object.
- Skip any era that came before they arrived, or ask what they heard from the people who were there.
- Do a little homework. Watch Msgr. Elmer's 50th anniversary video on the parish history page first. Hearing his own words will sharpen your follow-ups.
Pick your path
Not every session fits every person. Choose the sessions that match their connection, and skip eras before they arrived.
| Their connection | Sessions to run |
|---|---|
| Parishioner | |
| Ministry or committee volunteer | |
| School parent | |
| School alum | |
| Teacher or school staff |
What each session covers
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Session 1: Opening: who they are
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Session 2: Their place in the community
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Session 3: The Elmer years, 1968 to 1972
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Session 4: Matocha and McCabe, 1972 to 1987
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Session 5: Launching the school, 1983 to 1986
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Session 6: Msgr. Jordan and Saint Gym, 1987 to 1999
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Session 7: The fire of May 23, 2000
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Session 9: Raj, Brooks and Covington, 2004 to today
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Session 10: Across the decades: people and traditions
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Session 11: Faith, meaning, and legacy
Sending in an interview recording
Email it to us
Email the recording to hello@st-theresa.org. Tell us who you talked with, the date, and the sessions you ran.
A long recording may be too big to attach. If yours is, send the email anyway and say so, and we will find another way to get it.
Or upload it together
With the person you interviewed beside you, open Record a memory, choose a question, and press Upload a file instead. That way they make their own choices about who may hear it, and agree to the consent themselves.
Consent and sharing
- Get permission to record, and say how the recordings will be kept and shared.
- Offer them a chance to review anything before it is shared.
- Honor any request to leave a story out, at any point.
- Young people are interviewed only in person, with a parent or guardian's permission, under the parish's safe-environment rules.
The choices every storyteller makes
Who may hear your recording?
- Anyone. After the project team reviews it, it may appear on this website and in parish publications.
- The St. Theresa community. It may be played or quoted at parish and school events, displays, and in printed parish history, but it will not be posted on the public website.
- Only the parish archive. It is kept safely for history and is not shared or played publicly.
Nothing is shared until the project team has reviewed it. Read the full privacy and consent page, and the removal promise.
Questions?
Email hello@st-theresa.org or call the parish office at (512) 451-5121 and ask about the Oral History Project. Know someone we should talk to? Nominate them.