(1) Students would learn the history of South Central from the strongest sources available to them: the people in their community. In collecting these stories, students would have first hand experience conducting community based qualitative research. Additionally, students would supplement these interviews with the historical knowledge they had learned in class.

(2) Eventually, the long term goal for this project is to create a database of oral histories from South Central that can be used by the community. As Ethnic Studies becomes a statewide graduation requirement, it is important for South Central students to be able to access a localized version of their history that is built by the community itself. The oral histories collected here will hopefully become the foundation for that curriculum.