The Collaborative is welcoming eight new storytellers who have a significant part in providing access and education to food in the county, for this semester’s “Food & Food Pathways” series.

Assistant Teaching Professor of Environmental Science Jacob Rutz first got connected with the Power+Place Collaborative when he and professor Ryan Kirk were seeking a way to continue race equity work within food systems after they started a partnership with storyteller LaShauna Austria last year. Rutz knew the Collaborative would be the perfect place to continue that work.

“All of these stories are a window into the lived reality of different dimensions of how the food system does and does not work,” Rutz said. “Their unique, complex and messy realities give students the opportunity to look beyond a linear or uncritical theoretical framework into how the food system comes to be in people’s lives.”

Some of the storytellers this spring have kept family legacies alive through their work in the food and agricultural industry within Alamance County, which includes Austria and her son Malik Walker. Living on their family farm in Saxapahaw, the duo focuses on the historic and systematic changes of the food system in the county, raising awareness to move from charity to justice.

“LaShauna Austria is a powerhouse in the food scene in Alamance County,” Rutz said. “I have worked with her the past five years to advance a more equitable food system in Alamance county as well as support the growth of her farm, , with ������Ƶ course connections. It was fun to engage her son, Malik, in the project as well. He has his own unique story that I think should be shared.”

The Power+Place Collaborative is a partnership between ������Ƶ’s Center for Design Thinking, the African American Cultural Arts & History Museum, Burlington Parks & Recreation, Walter Williams High School and Alamance Public Libraries. Since 2018, they have with residents from diverse communities across Alamance County.

Throughout the years, the Power+Place Collaborative has looked for ways to help students and community members understand the underlying systems that impact their community every day, focusing on the stories that may not always be shared in mainstream media. Following design thinking principles of examining wicked problems, human-centred needs and action-oriented thinking, students dive deeper into the community and work through collaboration.

“Engaging with the community is hard work, but necessary, that builds so many more social skills beyond what I can teach about content in the classroom,” Rutz said. “Engaging with real people and real stories brings both the theory to life and critically examines the nuanced and chaotic realities that make up anyone’s life.”

Further engaging with food and civic leadership, the Power+Place Collaborative is partnering with the Alamance Public Libraries for a ” by Vanessa Miller.

Miller will join the Alamance County community to discuss the true story of Loella and William Montogomery, two freed slaves who became the self-proclaimed king and queen of the Kingdom of Happy Land nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western NC. Anyone is invited to join April 15 from 12 – 2 p.m. Community members, Walter Williams High School Civic Literacy class, and the ������Ƶ Food Security students will engage in conversations on community engagement with previous and current storytellers, taking into account the perspectives shared in the book.

The Power+Place Spring 2026 “Food & Food Pathways” film screening will be held May 2, 2026 at Persnickety’s Books in downtown Burlington.

The Center for Design Thinking has developed initiatives to continue the conversation about the implementation of AI in the classroom through a workshop titled “Designing for Ethical and Effective AI Usage.” This workshop aims to bridge the gap between how AI should be used by educators and how students can engage with it effectively and responsibly.

The Center supported over 110 faculty through a faculty development program designed to support next generation AI solutions. This series is “aimed to equip educators, researchers, and professionals with an in-depth understanding of design thinking principles and their critical role in developing innovative, user-centric AI solutions.”

Contributing to this global conversation, The Center for Design Thinking’s director, Danielle Lake, and Design Thinking Catalyst facilitated their “Designing for Ethical and Effective AI Usage” workshop and shared the latest research findings on its value for supporting student growth.

Lake introduced and outlined key stages of the design thinking process, particularly framing and exploring. She emphasized the importance of clearly identifying problems, taking ownership of solutions and acknowledging the influence of unconscious bias in decision-making.

Lake also encouraged participants to engage in outward exploration and research, fostering discussion and collaboration among faculty members as they shared their experiences and perspectives.

Bratić focused on the ethical implications of AI use in educational settings, addressing students’ increasing reliance on tools such as ChatGPT. She discussed how improper use of AI can lead to plagiarism and hinder learning, while also highlighting the growing demand for AI literacy in the workforce.

Bratić stressed the important role faculty play in shaping ethical AI usage and presented three tools to assist educators in teaching students how to use AI effectively. These tools include ethical usage rules, a structured prompt-building formula and the concept of “mind before machine.”

Additionally, Bratić showcased various AI applications that can support student learning, such as language development and productivity tools. She emphasized foundational principles like originality and accountability, encouraging students to engage in independent thinking before incorporating AI tools.

The session concluded with hands-on exercises that allowed faculty members to brainstorm and apply AI tools within their teaching practices, reinforcing ethical awareness, creativity and critical thinking.

Through collaboration, dialogue and hands-on application, the workshop reinforced that effective AI integration begins with informed and empowered educators. By centering ethics, creativity and critical thinking, the Center for Design Thinking is ensuring that AI becomes a tool for growth rather than a replacement for learning.

The Collaborative has partnered with Professor Pamela Runestad’s Anthropology of Food and Food Pathways course, community members, previous storytellers and the ������Ƶ Community Church to provide cultural homemade meals, where components came together to make a shared meal and shared connections for the film screening held on Dec. 4.

The screening featured a dozen stories, ten community resource tables and four food stations centered around the theme “roots and routes.” Food stations, for instance, reflected an important part of the designated culinary storytellers’ life and included “Ervin’s Beans & Slaw,” “Patty’s Tacos,” “Mohsin’s Chai” and “Randy’s Salad Bar.”

“I am convinced that food is the key to connecting people,” Power+Place 2024 storyteller Patty Holmes said. “This collaborative offers the perfect way to combine speaking and cooking. I love sharing recipes and discussing the meaning and origins of specific dishes.”

Food from Land to Mouths – Ervin’s Beans and Slaw

Students from the Anthropology of Food and Food Pathways course visited Reverend Ervin Milton’s farm to learn about farming and be introduced to what recipes they could expect at the screening.

Rev. Ervin Milton was raised on a 44-acre tobacco farm in rural Gibsonville, where his family grew their own food to make for every meal. His parents never hid the fact that his family was poor, making it a lesson on how to be sustainable while making enough to feed every mouth at the table.

“I grew up poor and didn’t know it because everyone around me was poor,” Milton said. “When extra people came to our house, there was always enough for them to eat with us. [Milton’s parents] learned how to stretch things, how to make things work, how to have enough without assuming that you got everything or that you need everything.”

Milton’s family still owns the land, continuing to grow their own produce and educate others on intentionally farming food to be more environmentally and sustainably conscious of food waste.

For his dishes, Milton decided to make three things that he remembers fondly being at his dinner table: coleslaw, cornbread and pinto beans. These three dishes were staples, coming from the farm straight to the family’s plates.

“Now people are just simply throwing away [food], almost to the point where they throw away people,” Milton said. “I think it’s important to help people, in my case, to understand how you can make a meal, how you can feed people and not spend a lot of money and still make it tasteful.”

Growing up in the civil rights era, Milton was no stranger to inequality. In 1964, he was the first black student to apply to an all-white Gibsonville High School, integrating the school for the first time. The school lunch table was one of the first places where he knew that he wanted to educate people on the causes and importance of equity on both sides to “make life fair for everybody.”

“I remember sitting while the white people that I worked for, they used to eat first and then we would eat,” Milton said. “That wasn’t going to be my life. I went back out to the field that day, but that memory has always been there for me.”

You can learn more about by viewing his digital story on the Power+Place YouTube channel.

Cultural Eats – Patty’s Tacos

Holmes was a 2024 Power+Place storyteller, sharing an of crossing into the United States from Mexico with her daughter to build a new life in the nation. This year, she’s focusing her story on her “second passion” and culture, bringing an array of Mexican tacos to the table.

“The Power+Place Collaborative not only educates, but it does so through real stories — stories that often aren’t found in the news or media,” Holmes said. “We are ‘invisible yet real,’ but through initiatives like this, we can become visible and reachable.”

A staple of her own childhood, Holmes made picadillo tacos for the “Patty’s Tacos” station. Her mother used to create the meal as it was plentiful and could be made for both breakfast and lunch.

As a child, Holmes would visit tortilla bakeries –  tortillerias – that would often have salt shakers, letting customers “savor a warm, fresh tortilla with a sprinkle of salt — a ‘tortilla con sal.’” While waiting in line, she would also enjoy a raspado, a Mexican-style shaved ice dessert topped with syrups, fresh fruit and sometimes condensed milk or chili-lime seasoning.

“My experiences becoming a storyteller for Power+Place feels incredibly fulfilling,” Holmes said. “Knowing that many people can understand the immigrant journey is powerful and promotes empathy and unity in our community.”

Faith-Fueled Food – Mohsin’s Chai and Randy’s Salad Bar

Students also met with Mohsin Sidiqui for “Mohsin’s Chai” at the Burlington Masjid, a place that’s been important to him since he came to the U.S. In 2023, of immigrating to Burlington, North Carolina from Pakistan’s largest city Karachi when he was a young boy. In his story, he emphasized the importance of community and family, something he missed when he moved to the states.

Through thoughtful conversation, Sadiqui told the same story to the Anthropology of Food and Food Pathways students through chai tea, a drink that he’s savored since a young boy. He also talked about the differences of the chai made in Pakistan and the U.S.

Randy’s Salad bar features staples from Pastor Randy Orwig, Pastor of the ������Ƶ Community Church. Pastor Randy has been a longtime, generous supporter of the Collaborative.

In preparation for the film screening, students met with pastor Randy Orwig to educate on community engagement within the church and its mission, along with touring the kitchen where the food will be made. In addition to hosting “Randy’s Salad Bar,” Orwig helped design the event, oversee the set up, and recruit community volunteers for the event.

Feeding the mind and body – Anthropology of Food and Food Pathways

Students in Professor Pamela Runestad’s Food and Food Pathways interviewed culinary storytellers about the particular dishes and took field trips to Milton’s family farm and the Burlington Masjid to gain a better sense for the significance of these foods to their storyteller.

Students’ insights from their interviews with storytellers and their site visits will be archived on the website alongside the dozen new stories captured this year about “Roots and Routes.” So far, Power+Place has archived over 120 documents, photos, transcripts, and more to their database that is accessible to anyone.

“I think students are really interested to learn about the variety of different experiences in our wider community here and see how food fits into that,” Runestad said. “They’re also learning about collection and processing of qualitative data — not just for data’s sake, but for a purpose: these narratives will be shared with Storytellers and saved in the archive.”

Both the culinary and Power+Place Stories of Alamance storytellers met with Williams High School participants, the students who have been working with them and the ������Ƶ community at the church. This year, 12 new storytellers were featured with a focused theme of rootedness, migration and belonging.

This year’s theme is “Storying Home: Cultivating Cross-Cultural Connections Through Storytelling,” with participants exploring themes of rootedness, migration and belonging. Faculty members Danielle Lake, Sandy Marshall and Deidre Yancey are leading the initiative together in anticipation of the Dec. 4 screening.

The Power+Place Collaborative is a partnership between ������Ƶ, the African American Cultural Arts & History Museum, Burlington Parks & Recreation and Alamance Public Libraries. Since 2018, they have collected and preserved oral histories and cocreated digital stories with residents from diverse communities across Alamance County.

“Working with Groups and Communities” student Peyton Patrick sees the impact of her Power+Place community-engaged course from both a logistical and creative level. Patrick is inspired by her instructor and Center for Design Thinking Director Danielle Lake as she sees her as a “boss, a teacher and a mentor at the end of the day.” The teachings of design thinking have also helped shape Patrick’s time as an ������Ƶ student.

“The whole point of the center is to design human change and create things that are going to improve people’s lives,” Patrick said. Being a part of the process of community change is “so much different than talking to a whole class about how you can make a difference in the community.”

Owner of Occasions’ Catering & Southern Cuisine Elois Lettley is Patrick’s storyteller for this semester. She instantly found a connection with her, enjoying hearing about Lettley’s upbringing and how she brings different food influences to the restaurant.

“Just 15 minutes outside of this bubble, there’s so many people of diverse backgrounds and cultures that want to get to know you,” Patrick said. “It really changes your whole perspective on what it means to be able to understand other people and to understand and connect with others.”

Along with collecting stories, The Alamance County History Harvest collected materials from storytellers to store on an open-access digital database. Power+Place stores its archived materials from storytellers and History Harvest materials on , an openly accessible platform for digital collections and exhibitions.

With guidance from Amanda Kleintop, assistant professor of history, and graduate student Emily Moser, students Andrea Camo Conde and Amaylie Bethea helped gather materials from storytellers at the event. Camo Conde was a student in the class last year, also creating films alongside other students. She believes working this position still allows her to connect with the storytellers.

“The history harvest was a great way to meet and get to know them through the objects they brought, which highlight their significant impact on the community,” Camo Conde said. “It’s so nice to see people reminisce on the objects they brought in to be scanned and recognized by the community. You can see in their face that they are appreciative and happy to share their stories.”

This year, the Power+Place Collaborative is collaborating with Williams High School civic literacy students. High school students will be attending the December storytelling event to hear all the finished stories from members of their community.

There are two options to attend this year: Limited in-person seating at the ������Ƶ Community Church. If you would like to attend in person, please email dlake@elon.edu and register , or you can attend virtually from 12:30-2 p.m. EST. Register