LO MSTB Dean Wins “The Moth” DC Story GrandSLAM!

Anyone who listens to The Moth Radio Hour on NPR knows that live audience members can place their name in a hat for the opportunity to share a true personal story on stage at one of the live StorySLAMs. When Loudoun MSTB Dean Mike Davis put his name in the hat at a DC StorySLAM last year, he immediately questioned what he’d done; listening to the other storytellers share their amazing stories was intimidating! Nonetheless, Mike told his story about building a giant periodic table using windows in a tall Chicago building. And he won!

On May 21, Mike had the opportunity to take the stage again, this time alongside nine other StorySLAM winners in The Moth DC GrandSLAM Championship in downtown DC. Each story was amazing, sentimental, awe-inspiring and true. Some storytellers had traveled as far as Seattle to attend. Others had shared stories on stage more than 50 times. Still more were writers by training. Mike, a first-timer and a chemistry guy, told a different story this time around — about how teaching chemistry to pre-nursing students at community college had gifted him back manyfold when he and his wife had a scary hospital experience during the birth of their son. Mike’s humor, directness and honesty won over both the audience and the judges. Congratulations to Mike Davis for WINNING the DC Story GrandSLAM!

The Moth airs on NPR and as a podcast. Listen to Mike’s StorySLAM on the periodic table and click here to see a photo of the project!

This is just another example of the amazing people who work for and with our students at NOVA every day.

Submitted by:
Gillian Backus, LO-Natural Science, GBackus@nvcc.edu