Andrea’s relationship with Northside and the Jackson Center began when she became involved with the oral history program, accompanying community mentors to local schools, listening to longtime Northsiders tell their stories about living in segregated Chapel Hill and participating in the local civil rights movement. She rediscovered a passion for recording and sharing oral histories, something she had done for her Ph.D. thesis on women’s political activism in Berlin, Germany, right after the fall of the Berlin Wall. There and here, then and now, she realized that if the stories of community members and activists are allowed to disappear, so will our connections with the past and our chance to learn from those who came before us. As education and communications director, she gets to do the work she loves most in a community full of history and vitality where she has witnessed the power of storytelling in building relationships across all sorts of divides. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia, an M.A. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University; taught at numerous colleges and universities; became certified in secondary education; and taught at East Chapel Hill High School. She’s done lots of other things, too, including raising two kids and, most recently, writing a blog about her experiences in Northside/Pine Knolls and Rogers Road (www.chapelhillstories.com).