Colorado State University students, faculty and community members gathered Sept. 12 at the Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising to share and learn of the stories of Fort Collins immigrants at the Immigration Show and Tell.

The event was the idea of Cari Whittenburg, a Ph.D. student in the communication studies department. Whittenburg is working on her dissertation on the Tenement Museum in Manhattan, New York City, where she is focusing on engagement practices in the museum. The show-and-tell event is inspired by the Tenement Museum’s “Your Story, Our Story” series, in which immigrants can share their stories in an online exhibit. This series was replicated by Whittenburg, this time inviting the immigrant community in Fort Collins to share stories of their own.

“Fort Collins and Colorado has so many transplants, but we often think of Fort Collins as lacking diversity. But I think this just reminds you that there really is a deep diversity in this community — that folks are coming from all over the place. … They’ve all got different stories.” -Katie Knobloch, Center for Public Deliberation associate director

“Museums offer an opportunity to provide networks of support to all community members and act as a resource center for care and connection,” Whittenburg said. “I think that events like this where people can come and share their own stories, not just hear stories that the museum is portraying, is really important, and I think it makes people seen and heard and hopefully find community.”

The show-and-tell happened in four rounds of small-group discussion. In the first round, participants showed off their artifacts and told the stories behind them. Items like bracelets, bags and handheld fans had fascinating stories attached to them that were told during the discussion.

The second round had participants reflect on their own stories and the hardships that came with experiencing them and sharing them. Round three involved other participants, who shared their thoughts on stories other immigrants told. The last round had participants connect with each other and connect their stories to the Fort Collins immigrant community as a whole.

“I appreciated the opportunity to hear students’ stories and the stories of other folks in Fort Collins,” said Katie Knobloch, associate director of the Center for Public Deliberation and participant in the show-and-tell. “It was really neat to hear both the diversity in the room but also the ways that our stories of movement and our family stories of migration and immigration all were connected at the end of the day.”

Several cultures around the world were showcased at the event, and participants were exposed to cultures they may have never thought about before.

“Fort Collins and Colorado has so many transplants, but we often think of Fort Collins as lacking diversity,” Knobloch said. “But I think this just reminds you that there really is a deep diversity in this community — that folks are coming from all over the place. … They’ve all got different stories.”

One of the participants in the event was CSU student Daniel Taylor. Taylor shared his experience traveling across the United States and his faith in Christianity during his time at CSU. The discussion allowed Taylor to reflect on his role in the Fort Collins community.

“My role in the community of Fort Collins is to love and serve my neighbors chiefly,” Taylor said. “It’s to seek to understand and don’t treat anybody like they’re uninteresting because that’s just not true. Everybody has something that’s interesting about them because everybody has a story.”

The emphasis on community and belonging is a value Whittenburg borrowed from the Tenement Museum’s engagement events. Whittenburg hopes to implement the element of connectivity in diversity in future showcase events.

“The big thing I think I wanted people to get out of it is a sense of connection and community,” Whittenburg said. “Whether it’s your first year of college or you’ve lived here a really long time, I think everyone deserves to find places where they feel welcome and cared for and seen and supported, and I think … a way we can do that is through this event.”

Reach Robert Sides at life@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.